BOOTHBAY HARBOR – Robert Hellens, a nuclear physicist who helped design the Navy’s first nuclear-powered vessel, died Jan. 28 at his home in Boothbay Harbor. He was 82.

Hellens worked on the reactor design for the submarine USS Nautilus. He later worked on nuclear power plant design at Combustion Engineering in Windsor Locks, Conn., and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

In 1971 he received the Atomic Energy Commission’s Ernest O. Lawrence Award for his work on the design of pressurized water reactors.

Survivors include his wife, Sally Fletcher Hellens, and three daughters.

A graveside ceremony will be held in the spring in Shrewsbury, Mass.