A SOLAR FLARE COULD HAVE THROWN OUR WORLD INTO THE DARK AGES TWO YEARS AGO - It might get us next time. So what are governments doing to prepare? NOTHING - A major solar flare would destroy electronics and our power grid, and cause the meltdown of nuclear power plants

Solar flare almost blasted Earth back to the dark ages two years ago, NASA scientists reveal

Plasma cloud or 'CME' rocketed away from the sun as fast as 3000 km/s on July 23, 2012

Had the eruption occurred just one week earlier, the blast site would have been facing Earth

Direct hit could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket.

Total economic impact could have exceeded $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina  

Read more
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2704676/That-close-Nasa-reveals-double-solar-superstorm-changed-life-know-2012.html

The real life scenario would be a lot worse

 

You will notice that the above article tries to present a major solar flare hitting Earth as one of those regular disasters we are getting used to.  More damaging, but survivable.

 

Not so.  Not for everyone.  The impact of losing our electronics would in the first place paralyze everything on Earth.  For example, most vehicles are computerized.  There would be no transportation, no movement of goods, supermarkets would run out of food.  Cities would be without drinkable water.  Policing would be in the hands of gangs and vigilantes.  Patients depending on medication would have none once supplies run out. 

 

Once our power grid is fried, there is no way to repair it or replace it.  Parts are not manufactured in America.  We would be in the dark for a very long time. 

 

Also keep in mind that aside from a large solar flare headed our way, an act of terror such as the explosion of a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere would also cause an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) effect with the same consequences for our electronics.

 

The most nightmarish part of this scenario is the inevitable meltdown of nuclear power plants.  NPPs need electricity to function. (continued) 

 

I posted the following article on December 20, 2013.  It's still relevant.

Friday, December 20, 2013

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT KNOWS THAT WE ARE ONE BIG SOLAR FLARE AWAY FROM ARMAGEDDON - AND IT DOES NOTHING

The U.S. government has known that for years. 

Earth has had a few close calls already, and was hit by solar flares before we had an electrical power grid.  Now the impacts on life and humanity will be gigantic.

Former Congressman and Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich has spent decades trying to alert Congress about the consequences of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) event - whether natural or deliberate - to no avail.  But Congress and the Executive, they all continue to ignore the issue.

A group of nine distinguished scientists co-authored a report for the US Congress entitled Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. This was a laudable project, but unfortunately Congress decided to publish this report on the same day they released their 9/11 Commission Report. Public attention to the EMP report was minimal.

Here is yet another report - and we're still waiting for the government's responsible reaction.

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An official report prepared by John Kappenman, an independent consultant, was commissioned by The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2010. The report is summarized in The JASON report on Impacts of Severe Space Weather on The Electrical Grid, project number 13119022.

 

JASON is an independent group of some 60 scientists that advises the United States government on science and technology that could have national implications. It is run by the non-profit making MITRE Corporation in Virginia.

 

Page 51-54 of the JASON report is of particular interest. It summarizes Kappenman’s findings. It is somber reading.

• More than 300 transformers destroyed.
• 130 million people in the United States  lacking power for several years.
• 1-2 trillion dollars of economic losses.

Kappenman based his findings on past storms. It goes without saying that should future storms be more severe than those the scenario is based on, then the damage caused will also be more severe. We have become so reliant on electricity in the last 200 years, it’s difficult to imagine life without it.

 

MEDICATIONS - Those who rely on refrigerated medications would be hard hit within hours of the power going off, as would those who rely on regular oxygen cylinder deliveries to their homes.

 

HOSPITALS - The usual back up power in hospitals is 72 hours. After that life support machines and operating rooms will cease to function. Pumps at gas stations will no longer dispense fuel affecting everything from the family car to the food supply.

 

WATER - Water treatment and pumping stations will cease to function, again this will affect a wide range of services we take for granted, drinking water, sanitation and even firefighting will be limited or non-existent for millions.  Contestation over water in lakes and rivers will be a source of ongoing conflict for years after the event.

 

ACCESS TO NEW TRANSFORMERS - Many factories that make parts for transformers will not be able to do so, leaving the United States at the mercy of foreign powers for transformers and parts. (If those countries have not been affected by the event themselves.) The very fabric of the only society we know will come to a grinding halt within a week of the grid going down.

 

HUMAN LIFE GREATLY REDUCED, BACK TO STONE AGE BRUTALITY - A severe space weather event will mean the end of life as we know it. Only the most prepared will survive, and those that do will find themselves in a very different world. Such an event has the potential to put not just the United States, but half the planet back to the stone age, reducing the ability of others in the First World to assist allied nations. A severe solar event would have the ability to affect an entire hemisphere rather than just an individual country.

Source - http://www.thedailysheeple.com/government-report-shows-that-a-major-solar-event-will-be-a-kill-shot-for-the-united-states_122013

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BUT THE ABOVE NEWS REPORT STILL DOWNPLAYS

THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN EMP

 

What about NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS?
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NPPs require electricity to function.  They have generators in case of emergencies, but they are not enough to cope with a long term loss of electrical power. 

MAT STEIN'S WEBSITE WHEN TECH FAILS GIVES YOU THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH

 

Matthew Stein is the author of books on technology and disaster preparedness.  He writes:

 

There are nearly 450 nuclear reactors in the world, with hundreds more either under construction or in the planning stages. There are 104 of these reactors in the USA and 195 in Europe.

 

MULTIPLE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT MELTDOWNS AT THE SAME TIME.

Imagine what havoc it would wreak on our civilization and the planet’s ecosystems if we were to suddenly witness not just one or two nuclear melt-downs but 400 or more! How likely is it that our world might experience an event that could ultimately cause hundreds of reactors to fail and melt down at approximately the same time?  I venture to say that, unless we take significant protective measures, this apocalyptic scenario is not only possible but probable.

 

Consider the ongoing problems caused by three reactor core meltdowns, explosions, and breached containment vessels at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi facility, and the subsequent health and environmental issues. Consider the millions of innocent victims that have already died or continue to suffer from horrific radiation-related health problems 

 

Since more than one third of all Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, this is a serious issue that should be given top priority!

 

PAST SOLAR STORMS HAVE ALREADY HIT THE EARTH

In the past 152 years, Earth has been struck roughly 100 solar storms causing significant geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs), two of which were powerful enough to rank as “extreme GMDs”.

 

IF ONE HAPPENS TODAY

If an extreme GMD of such magnitude were to occur today, in all likelihood it would initiate a chain of events leading to catastrophic failures at the vast majority of our world’s nuclear reactors, quite similar to the disasters at both Chernobyl and Fukushima, but multiplied over 100 times.

 

IT WOULD CAUSE A GRID COLLAPSE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

Since an extreme GMD of such a potentially disruptive magnitude that it would collapse the grid across most of the US last occurred in May of 1921, long before the advent of  modern electronics, widespread electric power grids, and nuclear power plants, we are for the most part blissfully unaware of this threat and totally unprepared for its consequences.

 

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS WOULD MELT DOWN

If an extreme GMD were to cause widespread grid collapse (which it most certainly will), in as little as one or two hours after each nuclear reactor facility’s backup generators either fail to start, or run out of fuel, the reactor cores will start to melt down.

 

After a few days without electricity to run the cooling system pumps, the water bath covering the spent fuel rods stored in “spent fuel ponds” will boil away, allowing the stored fuel rods to melt down and burn. 

 

Since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) currently mandates that only one week’s supply of backup generator fuel needs to be stored at each reactor site, it is likely that after we witness the spectacular night-time celestial light show from the next extreme GMD we will have about one week in which to prepare ourselves for Armageddon.

THE SOLUTION TO PREVENT ARMAGEDDON IS BEING IGNORED BY GOVERNMENT

The good news is that there are some relatively affordable protective equipment and processes which could be installed to protect critical components in the electric power grid and its nuclear reactors, thereby protecting our civilization from this “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” scenario.  

 

The bad news is that, as of now, even though panels of scientists and engineers have studied the problem, and the bi-partisan congressional EMP commission has presented a list of specific recommendations to congress, our leaders have yet to approve and implement a single significant preventative measure!

 

To do nothing is to behave like ostriches with our heads in the sand, blindly believing that “everything will be okay,” as our world inexorably drifts towards the next naturally recurring, 100%  inevitable, super solar storm and resultant extreme GMD. The result of which in short order will end the industrialized world as we know it, incurring almost incalculable suffering, death, and environmental destruction on a scale not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.

See Matthew Stein's website - http://www.whentechfails.com/node/1545

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More articles on EMPs on this blog - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/EMP

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