Page 17 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2014 Edition

When Technology Fails with Matthew Stein 400 Chernobyls: Solar As mentioned previously, nuclear power potential to severely affect the lives of many Flares, EMP, and Nuclear plants are only required to store enough backup millions of people. Think of an EMP as a super- powerful radio wave capable of inducing fuel reserves on-site to keep their backup diesel Armageddon generators running for a period of one week. damaging voltage spikes in electrical wires and The NRC has always operated from the electronic devices across vast geographical Continued from Page 15 assumption that extended grid “blackouts” areas. What is generally referred to as an EMP would not last for periods of more than a few strike is the deliberate detonation of a nuclear Most of us tend to believe that a nuclear reactor days. The government has promised that, in the device at a high altitude, roughly defined as is something that can be shut down in short event of a major catastrophe such as a Hurricane somewhere between 24 and 240 miles (40 and order, like some massive piece of machinery Katrina, diesel trucks will show up like 400 kilometers) above the surface of the earth. that can be turned off by simply flipping a clockwork at all troubled nuclear facilities until Nuclear detonations of this type have the switch, or by performing a series of operations local grid-supplied electrical power services potential to cause serious damage to electronics in a prescribed manner over a relatively short have been re-established. Unfortunately, and electrical power grids along their line of time, such as a few hours or perhaps a day or governments and regulators have not sight, covering huge distances on the order of a two. In spite of my MIT education (BSME, considered the possibility that the next extreme circular area 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometers) in MIT, 1978), until recently I too was under the GMD which Mother Nature unleashes upon diameter, which would correspond to an area spell of this comforting delusion, which is far Earth will quite likely disrupt grid services over stretching roughly from Quebec City in Canada from the truth. You see, the trillions of chain much of the industrial world for a period of down to Dallas, Texas and reaching almost as reactions going on inside a nuclear reactor’s years, not just days. The chances that the far south as Miami, Florida. The geomagnetic core continuously produce such incredible world’s nuclear reactors will receive weekly effects of extreme solar storms are sometimes amounts of energy that a single nuclear power deliveries of diesel fuel under such chaotic also described as a “natural EMP”. plant can generate more electricity than is circumstances are practically zero. In a world The concern is that some rogue state or required to power a good sized city. suffering from loss of fuel and electric power, if terrorist organization might build their own Unfortunately, these reactions do not simply any such deliveries were attempted those fuel nuclear device from scratch or buy one illegally, “cease fire” at the flip of a switch. In general, it tankers would be prime targets for armed procure a Scud missile (or similar) on the black takes 5 to 7 days to slow down a reactor core’s hijackers. market and launch their nuclear device from a nuclear chain reactions to the point where the Had it not been for heroic efforts on the large fishing boat or freighter somewhere off the core may be removed from the reactor. part of Japan’s nuclear workers to replenish coast of the US, causing grid collapse and After removal, the fuel rods are quite waters in the spent fuel pool at Fukushima, widespread damage to electronic devices across “hot”, both from the perspective of temperature those spent fuel rods would have melted down roughly 50% of America. Much like an extreme and radioactivity. For the next 3 to 5 years these and ignited their zirconium cladding, which GMD, a powerful EMP attack would also cause fuel rods must be immersed under roughly 20 most likely would have released far more widespread grid collapse, but it would be feet of continuously cooled water, both to radioactive contamination than what came from limited to a much smaller geographical area. shield the surrounding area from radioactivity, the three reactor core melt-downs. Japanese A powerful EMP from a sub-orbital as well as to prevent catastrophic melt-down officials have estimate that the Fukushima nuclear detonation would cause extreme from occurring. According to Gundersen, after Daiichi nuclear disaster has already released electromagnetic effects, starting with an initial slowing down the chain reactions inside the into the local environment just over half the short duration “speed of light” pulse, referred to reactor cores at Fukushima for a full eight total radioactive contamination as was released as an “E1” effect, followed by a middle duration months, the fuel rods would start melting down by Chernobyl, but other sources estimate it pulse called an “E2” effect, which is followed again if coolant flow was suspended for just 38 could be significantly more than was released by a longer duration disturbance known as an hours. by the accident at Chernobyl. In the event that “E3” effect. The “E1” effect lasts on the order of Gundersen explained that, essentially all an extreme GMD induced long-term grid a few nanoseconds, and is quite similar to modern nuclear reactors are designed with collapse covering much of the globe, if just half massive electrostatic discharges, much like the banks of "fuel rods", which contain highly of the world’s spent fuel ponds were to boil off sparks that surge from an extended fingertip radioactive materials, combined with banks of their water and become radioactive zirconium after rubbing your feet on the carpet on a cold "control rods", which mesh between the fuel fed infernos, the ensuing contamination could clear winter’s day, except they would surge rods like the interwoven fingers of your right far exceed the cumulative effect of 400 through the hearts of electronic equipment and left hands. It is the degree of interweave that Chernobyls. distributed over a vast geographic area. These moderates and controls the rate of nuclear chain types of electrostatic spark discharges are reactions. He further explained that in the event Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack particularly damaging to digital microelectronic of a significant loss of reactor control, reactors chips that are at the core of most modern are designed for a "fail-safe" process to occur, Many of the control systems we considered electronic equipment. where the control rods automatically fall into achieved optimal connectivity through Ethernet The intermediate “E2” effects last a the fully meshed position with respect to the cabling. EMP coupling of electrical transients fraction of a second, and are similar to many fuel rods, resulting in maximal slowing of the to the cables proved to be an important thousands to millions of lightning strikes hitting core's nuclear reactions and beginning the vulnerability during threat illumination…. The over a widespread area at almost exactly the process of shutting down the reactor. testing and analysis indicate that the electronics same time. Unfortunately, many of the devices Typically, this action rapidly reduces the could be expected to see roughly 100 to 700 designed to protect equipment from lightning power produced by these chain reactions by a ampere current transients on typical Ethernet damage, such as surge protectors, will be factor of 20:1 (to 5.0 per cent of full power), but cables. Effects noted in EMP testing occurred at incapacitated by damage from the E1 pulse, that still leaves thousands of horsepower worth the lower end of this scale. The bottom line leaving millions of electronic devices and of waste heat that must be removed if the observation at the end of the testing was that systems susceptible to damage from the E2 reactor core is not to rapidly overheat and fail every system failed when exposed to the effects. catastrophically. After a day of leaving the simulated EMP environment. control rods in the fully interwoven position, — Report of the Commission to Asses Continued on Page 17 this reaction slows to 1.0 per cent, and after a the Threat to the United States from week it will be about 0.1 per cent of full power. Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Listen To Past Broadcasts Of Once the reactions in the fuel rods slow to the The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV Show point where the rods may be removed from the Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) and with reactor, the spent fuel rods must be cooled solar super storms are two different, but related, Rob McConnell inside containment ponds for 3–5 more years categories of events that are often described as before the nuclear reactions decay to a point high-impact, low frequency (HILF) events. at where the rods can be moved to specially Events categorized as HILF don’t happen very www.xzonepodcast.com designed air-cooled storage banks. often, but if and when they do they have the