Not that I’m trying to ruin your Thanksgiving week, but I watched this eye-opening presentation below late last week and, although I knew some of the details, I was shocked at the full scope of the problem should a solar flare or EMP occur. In fact, while I mentioned how problematic a solar flare could be last week, I’m surprised that our adversaries haven’t launched a single EMP yet because the effects could devastate the country too.
What stood out to me most was just how vulnerable the grid is to almost any EMP-related problem, whether that’s from a solar flare, nuke, or EMP device. Sadly, the presenter says we could do a lot to protect the grid for, these days, relatively little investment. But there’s little desire by the electric companies to do so on their own and no interest from lawmakers to force them.
Anyway, the few thousand Large Power Transformers, for example, are crucial to everything across the power grid, but they take years to manufacture, are produced largely overseas (mostly in the Netherlands and China from what I gather), weigh so much that some can’t even be transported on trains, and have very little (if any) protection against these specific threats. And of course we don’t stockpile any.
The presenter further points out that damaging even a single glass insulator (of which there are tens of millions across the country) on a power line could have cascading effects. As you might suspect, these insulators are highly susceptible to EMPs and solar flares.
Maybe the worst problem of all, aside from a complete loss of grid power for years, are the potentially catastrophic effects on nuclear power plants and the fallout that will likely result. I’ll let you watch that part of the video, but it’s enough to make you want to move to Antarctica.
Enjoy!
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