Page 13 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2014 Edition

When Technology Fails with Matthew Stein 400 Chernobyls: Solar Flares, EMP, and Nuclear Armageddon the result is a significant geomagnetic Unfortunately, the world’s nuclear power plants, by Matthew Stein disturbance. as they are currently designed, are critically Since an extreme GMD of such a dependent upon maintaining connection to a There are nearly 450 nuclear reactors in the potentially disruptive magnitude that it would functioning electrical grid, for all but relatively world, with hundreds more either under collapse the grid across most of the US last short periods of electrical blackouts, in order to construction or in the planning stages. There are occurred in May of 1921, long before the advent keep their reactor cores continuously cooled so 104 of these reactors in the USA and 195 in of modern electronics, widespread electric as to avoid catastrophic reactor core meltdowns Europe. Imagine what havoc it would wreak on power grids, and nuclear power plants, we are and spent fuel rod storage pond fires. our civilization and the planet’s ecosystems if for the most part blissfully unaware of this If an extreme GMD were to cause we were to suddenly witness not just one or two threat and totally unprepared for its widespread grid collapse (which it most nuclear melt-downs but 400 or more! How consequences. The good news is that there are certainly will), in as little as one or two hours likely is it that our world might experience an some relatively affordable protective equipment after each nuclear reactor facility’s backup event that could ultimately cause hundreds of and processes which could be installed to generators either fail to start, or run out of fuel, reactors to fail and melt down at approximately protect critical components in the electric power the reactor cores will start to melt down. After a the same time? I venture to say that, unless we grid and its nuclear reactors, thereby protecting few days without electricity to run the cooling take significant protective measures, this our civilization from this “end-of-the-world-as- system pumps, the water bath covering the apocalyptic scenario is not only possible but we-know-it” scenario. The bad news is that, as spent fuel rods stored in “spent fuel ponds” will probable. of now, even though panels of scientists and boil away, allowing the stored fuel rods to melt Consider the ongoing problems caused engineers have studied the problem, and the bi- down and burn [2]. Since the Nuclear by three reactor core meltdowns, explosions, partisan congressional EMP commission has Regulatory Commission (NRC) currently and breached containment vessels at Japan’s presented a list of specific recommendations to mandates that only one week’s supply of backup Fukushima Daiichi facility, and the subsequent congress, our leaders have yet to approve and generator fuel needs to be stored at each reactor health and environmental issues. Consider the implement a single significant preventative site, it is likely that after we witness the millions of innocent victims that have already measure! spectacular night-time celestial light show from died or continue to suffer from horrific Most of us believe something like this the next extreme GMD we will have about one radiation-related health problems (“Chernobyl could never happen, and if it could, certainly week in which to prepare ourselves for AIDS”, epidemic cancers, chronic fatigue, etc) our “authorities” would do everything in their Armageddon. resulting from the Chernobyl reactor power to make sure they would prevent such an To do nothing is to behave like ostriches explosions, fires, and fallout. If just two serious Apocalypse from ever taking place. with our heads in the sand, blindly believing nuclear disasters, spaced 25 years apart, could Unfortunately, the opposite is true. “How could that “everything will be okay,” as our world cause such horrendous environmental this happen?” you might ask. “Is this truly inexorably drifts towards the next naturally catastrophes, it is hard to imagine how we possible?” Read and weep, for you will soon recurring, 100% inevitable, super solar storm could ever hope to recover from hundreds of know the answer. and resultant extreme GMD. The result of similar nuclear incidents occurring which in short order will end the industrialized simultaneously across the planet. Since more Nuclear Power Plants and the Electric world as we know it, incurring almost than one third of all Americans live within 50 Power Grid incalculable suffering, death, and environmental miles of a nuclear power plant, this is a serious destruction on a scale not seen since the issue that should be given top priority! Our global system of electrical power extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million In the past 152 years, Earth has been generation and distribution (“the grid”), upon years ago. struck roughly 100 solar storms causing which every facet of our modern life is utterly significant geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), dependent, in its current form is extremely Continued on Page 14 two of which were powerful enough to rank as vulnerable to severe geomagnetic storms of a “extreme GMDs”. If an extreme GMD of such magnitude that tends to strike our planet on an Now You Can Listen To magnitude were to occur today, in all likelihood average of approximately once every 70 to 100 it would initiate a chain of events leading to years. We depend on this grid to maintain food The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV catastrophic failures at the vast majority of our production and distribution, world’s nuclear reactors, quite similar to the telecommunications, Internet services, medical Show disasters at both Chernobyl and Fukushima, but services, military defense, transportation, multiplied over 100 times. When massive solar government, water treatment, sewage and with Radio by flares launch a huge mass of highly charged garbage removal, refrigeration, oil refining and Telephone plasma (a coronal mass ejection, or CME) gas pumping, and to conduct all forms of directly towards Earth, colliding with our commerce. 213-401-0080 planet’s outer atmosphere and magnetosphere,