How long can nuclear plants last without power? (CME hit)

[rbelli1]

That's 30 days normal operation. Nothing to see here. Move along. Rather conservative margins are included.

How fast could you get that to a point in an emergency where you were pretty sure it was OK to walk away from?

BoB

 

[NTL2009]

While I am sure some of this is just attention grabbing tactics, I am concerned about an event like this. Do we really have an idea just how much of the damage can be contained by switching things off, or other preparations? I'm not sure it was answered, but what about satellites?

I would think that the voltage induced in power lines and other systems could still be a very large scale problem. Not 'wipe out humanity' scale, but some very serious results, lots of equipment down for a long time, lots of rationing. Yes, that could even lead to rioting and wide scale crime.

It's a little scary just how dependant we are on our electrical and electronic systems.

 

[jim hardy]

Industry is learning as they go. This is an interesting study of a geomagnetic storm in Sweden

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2004SW000123/full

it describes "Geomagnetically Induced Currents" (GIC) in the neutrals of a few hundred amps .

That storm caused equipment to disconnect but didn't wreck it. What would another Carrington event do? I don't know.

4. Analysis of the Problems in Operating the Swedish High-Voltage Power Transmission System
[18] The unusually high geomagnetic activity of 29–31 October 2003 caused a number of disturbances in the Swedish high-voltage power transmission system. Circuit breakers for several power lines and transformers were tripped by the low-set residual overcurrent relays (see Appendix A for discussion on general and system-specific features of AC power transmission that are associated with GIC-related failures in the Swedish system). More than 50% of the relay operations came from the second harmonic restrained residual overcurrent relays. In general, more than 50% of the failed objects were energized within 1 to 5 min, either by automatic or manual switching operations. However, in some cases it took 25 to 90 min to inspect the failed objects before they were re-energized.

I'm apprehensive about how a "Smartened" grid will react to space weather. The dumb one is pretty resilient.