Single Nuke Could Destroy USA
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USA Could Be Without Electricity for Year or Longer.
From the dawn of the nuclear age the consequences of the powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by a nuclear blast was observed. With the advent of magnetic chips it has grown geometrically. Iran is working on a nuclear weapon-related capability that could cripple all U.S. electronic systems with a massively disrupting electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear device detonated high above the United States or elsewhere is discussed in a article by Bill Gertz and published by the World Tribune.
“A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication,” an expert said during a Congressional hearing last week. “EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. A well coordinated and widespread cyber attack is another potential example.”
Among the threat scenarios are EMP attacks using a nuclear warhead detonated from a missile fired from a freighter over U.S. territory. Graham said Iran has conducted missile launches from a vessel in the Caspian Sean and has tested high-altitude explosions from the Shahab-3 medium-range missile.
“Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States,” Graham said. He noted that relatively low-yield, unsophisticated nuclear weapons can be used to generate potentially catastrophic EMP effects over wide geographic areas, and designs for variants of such weapons, as well as more sophisticated weapons, appear to have been
“It’s my understanding that a robust lay-down, like we produced by a single weapon of 200 kilovolts per meter that made it 300 miles high over Iowa or Nebraska, would probably shut down our entire national infrastructure,” experts say. “There would be no electricity for a year or longer.. The SCATA units in our substations and so forth would all be gone. The large transformers would be destroyed, and we don’t make those. It would take a year and a half or so to buy them from somebody overseas who makes them.”
Comment by Jason Blanchard on 24 July 2008:
Brush up on your gardening skills…they might come in handy.
Jason Blanchards last blog post..American Physical Society opens AGW debate
Comment by Deb Della Piana on 25 July 2008:
Are we supposed to believe that our only problem as a result of this would be lack of electricity for a year? You’ve got to be kidding me. How naive we are as a nation!
Deb Della Pianas last blog post..Our Hypocritical “Environmental” President
Comment by Richard Cochrane on 25 July 2008:
Deb - Not the only but losing electricity would be the greatest long term consequnce of an EMP. Unshielded magentic media could be erased but that would be more quickly recovered. Radiation would be insignificant, and there would be no blast damage. Those accidentally looking at the detonation could suffer eye damage. You can would start, cell phone wouldn’t work but those are not significant compard with losing all electrical power.