Areas of Expertise:

Herschel is a professional engineer with over 50 years of experience in the electric power industry. After graduating from MIT and serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, he started his career in physics, thermal hydraulics, and heat transfer. In 1965, he joined the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) where he established national containment acceptance criteria. Later, as the AEC licensing manager for the Indian Point 3 (IP3) Plant, he completed its safety review, wrote the safety evaluation report, and presented his results before the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). This led to the licensing of this plant. He was then selected by AEC Commissioner Doub to serve at diplomat rank at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria (1974-1979). He returned in 1979 to the Department of Energy where he worked on the safety of our Defense Nuclear Systems. In 1981 the New York Power Authority (NYPA) offered him the position of Manager of an adjudicatory hearing defending IP3. Later, as Technical Advisor to NYPA’s Executive Vice President, he was asked by the Department of Energy to chair a national committee on emergency planning. The final report was forwarded to Congress. He also chaired NUMARC’s Task Force on Emergency Planning. The NUMARC report (NUMARC/NESP-005) was distributed to all U.S. nuclear utilities. He was a guest lecturer at Harvard for over five years on emergency planning. In 1992 he initiated a national effort on “Risk-Based Regulation” (RBR) and presented this concept to all five NRC Commissioners at a public hearing. Risk based regulation has become the centerpiece for modernizing the nuclear regulatory process at the NRC and within the nuclear industry. He has written fundamental papers on this subject, assisted EPRI in initiating its program on risk-based regulation, appeared before national regulatory and industry groups, been a guest lecturer and invited international speaker, chaired industry committees on this subject and have been an active member on others. In 1993 he wrote the ANS Policy Statement on RBR. In addition to my RBR activities, he has published extensively on other nuclear safety issues, on the environment, and on energy policy matters. He has served on an editorial board of an international energy journal.

Recent Posts by Herschel Specter

• Nuclear Power Safety Risks
• Are We Losing the “War” Against Climate Change?
• Reconsidering the Indian Point Nuclear Plant Shutdown
• Is Utility Solar Better Than Residential Solar To Meet Renewable Goals?
• Climate Change Failure?
• Will There Be Sufficient Electricity?
• Is Our Understanding of Fukushima Backwards?
• Looking Beyond the President's Climate Speech
• Another Oil-Related Recession?
• Oil and Our Economy

Recent Comments by Herschel Specter

• "1) A common thread in a number of comments is the need for diversity. This implies that mandates, like 100% renewable energy by a particular date, a"
  Texas’ Freeze, Energy Foresight, and Preparedness
• "In the pursuit of a low carbon future and in order to do this emphasizing environmental justice, I suggest the following: 1. Select a low carbon futu"
  Guiding Principles for Sound Energy Policy
• "There are about 140 million households In the United States and additional millions of commercial businesses. Many of these households have fossil fu"
  Electrification Nation: Buildings and Energy
• "Dan, I'm glad you brought up the robotaxies in that it is another example of rethinking what vehicular transportation might be, other than the pres"
  Coronavirus Pandemic Highlights Need to Address Mineral Security
• "Part of the Lithium problem is that the auto industry is chasing the old internal combustion transportation model, seeking longer and longer ranges f"
  Coronavirus Pandemic Highlights Need to Address Mineral Security
• "Dan, One benefit of making hydrocarbons at sea is the infinite supply of hydrogen. As to off-shore wind and making hydrocarbons, this process elimina"
  Time for a Price on Carbon
• "It was good to read many comments in favor of the fee and dividend form of a carbon tax. I support that. It also was very good to read comments that r"
  Time for a Price on Carbon
• "It is argued that if a large, albeit infrequent, hurricane struck an off shore wind farm causing damage, this financial loss would be recovered from i"
  Realizing the Promise of Offshore Wind
• "Jane, I participated in the National Academy of Sciences review of spent fuel pool zirconium fires if the pool were somehow drained of water. What wa"
  Realizing the Promise of Offshore Wind
• "As long as retiring nuclear power plants are replaced by fossil fuels, usually gas, the net benefit of off-shore wind will be negative for years to c"
  Realizing the Promise of Offshore Wind