Ollie North on N. Korean Missile: Could Shut Down Hawaii?

[RonL]

I don't think so, but I'm not sure of what a long term result might be ? Does anyone have an opinion ?
He mentions an electromagnetic pulse discharge.
The comment came near the end, sorry but I don't know how to clip sections of a video

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/05/...korean-missile-could-shut-down-hawaii-decades

 

[phinds]

Decades seems extreme but it would likely shut it down for a couple of years while the electrical grid is rebuilt. The ramifications WOULD likely be felt for one decade or so. In any case it would be severe.

 

[fresh_42]

Decades seems extreme but it would likely shut it down for a couple of years while the electrical grid is rebuilt. The ramifications WOULD likely be felt for one decade or so. In any case it would be severe.

In a TV documentation they've said, the critical point are the transformers and especially the big ceramic insulators. Apparently we (all humans) only produce them in a few places anymore. They said it would take decades to rebuild enough of them. Btw, it doesn't take a nuclear explosion, a major CME could have a similar effect. Not sure how reliable those reports are. I found it amazing that we shouldn't be able to increase our production capacities if needed. Probably the reason why I remember it.

 

[phinds]

In a TV documentation they've said, the critical point are the transformers and especially the big ceramic insulators. Apparently we (all humans) only produce them in a few places anymore. They said it would take decades to rebuild enough of them. Btw, it doesn't take a nuclear explosion, a major CME could have a similar effect. Not sure how reliable those reports are. I found it amazing that we shouldn't be able to increase our production capacities if needed. Probably the reason why I remember it.

Yeah, I remember reading something similar and agree w/ you that it sounds unlikely that we would be unable to up the production capabilities IF the problem were localized to, say, just Hawaii. If it were a large portion of CONUS then that would be a different story.

 

[jim mcnamara]

NASA has a nice piece on the effect of a large CME - a coronal mass ejection of plasma from the sun. There are follow up links to more detailed information. Note: the most severe effects are much more likely at high latitudes.

https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/spaceweather.htm

The effect is apparently not effectively different on a power grid from the EMP generated by a nuclear fission bomb, except on the geographic scale of the impact, smaller by far for a bomb.

 

[mfb]

It would take a long time to rebuild all transformers in the world at the current production rate. The production rate could increase, however.

Just Hawaii? Hawaii has ~2 GW of electric power. China is adding 10 GW to their grid per month (123 GW in 2016). The number of transformers doesn't scale linearly with power, but still - Hawaii wouldn't even be a large customer.

 

[256bits]

He mentions an electromagnetic pulse discharge.

Lightning is an electromagnetic pulse discharge.
Does Hawaii go black for decades from a severe thunderstorm?

A CME would probably have a lessor effect on Hawaii's power network, than other areas where transmission lines span long distances.
One CME in 1989 blew out a few relays in a northern electric production facility, and a failure of a transformer ( eastern USA ) was attributed to faulty grounding.
Quebec was back up and running 9 hours later, so no real big deal there.

Both are aspects of a HEMP ( hi altitude magnetic pulse ) .

The third, though, which the other two do not have, is gamma ray production for a HEMP, lasting nano seconds. Energetic electrons can be produced, which by their movement can set up disruptive electrical pulses in electronic components.

One aspect of a HEMP is line of site. a low altitude hemp is limited mainly to the horizon. The higher the HEMP the broader the field affected, perhaps 1000 to 2000 km directly.
I kindof doubt that N.Korea has the present capability to be deploy a high altitude HEMP near Hawaii. A nation nearby should conceivably be more worried than anyone near Hawaii .

Look up Starfish nuclear high altitude explosion ( 200 km ) in 1962. Some electrical problem did happen in Hawaii some 500 miles away.

 

[RonL]

After all the comments and a little searching, I get the picture that things go beyond what I would have thought...of course depending on how large a pulse might be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

If I read correctly, anything electrical and in operation at time of the event would be victimized brings back memories of a breaker bar landing across the terminals of a fully charged battery

But a system that could deliver such coverage seems unlikely to me.