How Solar Storms and Nukes Threaten the Power Grid
WASHINGTON — The United States' electrical transmission grid can be a fragile thing.
Sewage treatment plants, water filtration services and other key utilities rely on the grid to power their facilities. But some officials and experts worry that theinfrastructure is exceedingly vulnerable to natural and human attack, said speakers and panelists at the fourth annual Electric Infrastructure Security Summit held here earlier this week.
While most vital organizations have enough backup power to last for a few days or a week, even essential facilities, such as hospitals or military bases, probably could not continue to function during a large-scale blackout that lasted more than a week.
Sewage treatment plants, water filtration services and other key utilities rely on the grid to power their facilities. But some officials and experts worry that theinfrastructure is exceedingly vulnerable to natural and human attack, said speakers and panelists at the fourth annual Electric Infrastructure Security Summit held here earlier this week.
While most vital organizations have enough backup power to last for a few days or a week, even essential facilities, such as hospitals or military bases, probably could not continue to function during a large-scale blackout that lasted more than a week.
Will you survive when the lights go out?
‘E-Bomb’ Doomsday Conference Starts TodayAs the conference description notes: “Two Congressional Commissions, the EMP Commission and the Strategic Posture Commission, have warned that terrorists, rogue states, China and Russia could, using a single crude nuclear weapon delivered by a primitive missile, inflict an EMP attack that would cause the collapse of critical civilian infrastructures–such as infrastructures for electric power, telecommunications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water–across the entire continental United States, that are vital alike for the sustenance of our modern society and the survival of its citizens.”
Concerns about EMP weapons have long attracted a devoted band of doomsdayers, including Roscoe Bartlett, the Republican congressman from Maryland, and former representative Curt Weldon, who has warned of plasma attack weapons (a non-nuclear EMP). Both are speakers at the EMPACT conference.
Concerns about EMP weapons have long attracted a devoted band of doomsdayers, including Roscoe Bartlett, the Republican congressman from Maryland, and former representative Curt Weldon, who has warned of plasma attack weapons (a non-nuclear EMP). Both are speakers at the EMPACT conference.
