Areas of Expertise:
Thomas Popik is founder and chairman of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a nonprofit group dedicated to the protection of critical infrastructure from natural and man-made disasters. In his role with the Foundation, Mr. Popik was the principal author of Petition for Rulemaking PRM-50-96, first submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February 2011 before the Fukushima nuclear accidents. PRM-50-96, if approved in final rulemaking, would require nuclear plants to install backup power to protect against loss of commercial grid power after severe solar storms. It is extremely rare for a petition from a group representing the public to be accepted by the NRC. According to a March 11, 2013 article in Power Magazine, “NRC Grants Citizen Petition to Examine Solar Storms,” of 116 citizen petitions submitted to the NRC since the year 2000, PRM-50-96 was the only one receiving a favorable NRC ruling. Earlier in his career, Mr. Popik served as a U.S. Air Force officer assigned to Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force Base, where he worked on unattended power systems for remote radar sites of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in Alaska, Canada, and the Greenland Ice Cap. Mr. Popik received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
Recent Posts by Thomas Popik
Recent Comments by Thomas Popik
- "It is encouraging that both the NRC and FERC have taken positions that geomagnetic disturbance is a serious issue for grid reliability that needs furt"
Protecting the Grid Against Solar Storms