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27 September 2015, 20:35
The Utah Prepare Conference and Expo at Utah State University held some great classes among which was “The Realities, Response, and Recovery From EMP” taught by Jim Phillips, an Electronics Technician, Certified Nuclear Power Plant Operator, Standards Engineer, and Industrial Engineer. He has done extensive studying of the problems of an EMP attack.
The threat from an EMP is real. Frank Gaffney spoke on this subject at a FEMA conference I attended in Washington, DC a year or so ago. It would be easy for the DPRK to deploy what looks like a harmless freighter somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, then open cargo doors and launch a missile over the central US. (Russia sold the North Koreans and Chinese ships with this capability.) Apparently, the US has no missile defense south of the Great Lakes in the lower 48.
Intelligence assessments indicate there is a strong possibility that the US will suffer a devastating EMP attack within the next 15 years. A nuclear explosion set off 30 miles above the geographic center of the United States would take out about a dozen states. One detonated 300 hundred miles about the center would take out most of the US and most of Canada except for Hawaii and Alaska. A well-placed EMP attack could successfully destroy the entire power grid for the continental United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Because many of the larger transformers and other components are manufactured in China and other overseas locations, the power grid would be down for years.
If a similar EMP attack were launched over Western Europe, you could look forward to a similar scenario in UK. An EMP would affect us in many other ways besides the power grid. Food and medical supplies would immediately start to become in short supply and gradually disappear. The majority of automobiles and other motor vehicles manufactured since 1980 may fail to operate. Test conducted by the US government of public safety vehicles manufactured between 1980 and 2002, showed that many having more robust shielding, not found in vehicles produced for the civilian market could be restarted. The problem is that this was a limited today’s energy efficient cars have much more electronics.
Older cars made before 1980 with points and condenser ignition, without onboard computers would probably run, but Gaffney suggests having a spare starter coil and condenser on hand, just in case. Gasoline would be available from cars damaged by the EMP attack, but once this source ran out, there would be no more deliveries. With the power grid down and most vehicles not running, conditions would be very much like those described in the book One Second After by William R Forstchen.
While this is a fictionalized version of an EMP attack, it does describe the aftereffects well. You may want to take the time to read it. Many small electronic devices using field effect transistors (FETs) will fail if not protected in faraday cages. Batteries should survive without any problems. Faraday need to be a complete enclosure with no opening.
Here is a list of items people try to use for cages.
Shipping containers will not work because of their wooden floors.
Metal sheds with grounding will not provide any protection.
Microwave ovens will not provide adequate protection, even though they will block radio waves. A nuclear device that has been optimized to produce EMP will generate waves a million times that of a radio transmission.
Metal trash bins may not be thick enough metal to be reliable.
Mylar bags will not work.
Military specification "Tempest" enclosures and equipment bags will work
I would suggest doubling all your faraday cages. But don’t make the mistake of not making an effort to protect your critical electronics, medical devices, battery chargers, inverters, etc. A nuclear device may not function as designed, or may go astray and miss its targeted area. While it is true that information that we are getting may be wrong, intelligence estimates error on the side of safety. The sad thing is that the government knows exactly what we need to do to protect ourselves from an EMP attack and does not provide the public with that information, because they don't want to start a panic.
I am sure our enemies know it, so why can’t we?
The threat from an EMP is real. Frank Gaffney spoke on this subject at a FEMA conference I attended in Washington, DC a year or so ago. It would be easy for the DPRK to deploy what looks like a harmless freighter somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, then open cargo doors and launch a missile over the central US. (Russia sold the North Koreans and Chinese ships with this capability.) Apparently, the US has no missile defense south of the Great Lakes in the lower 48.
Intelligence assessments indicate there is a strong possibility that the US will suffer a devastating EMP attack within the next 15 years. A nuclear explosion set off 30 miles above the geographic center of the United States would take out about a dozen states. One detonated 300 hundred miles about the center would take out most of the US and most of Canada except for Hawaii and Alaska. A well-placed EMP attack could successfully destroy the entire power grid for the continental United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Because many of the larger transformers and other components are manufactured in China and other overseas locations, the power grid would be down for years.
If a similar EMP attack were launched over Western Europe, you could look forward to a similar scenario in UK. An EMP would affect us in many other ways besides the power grid. Food and medical supplies would immediately start to become in short supply and gradually disappear. The majority of automobiles and other motor vehicles manufactured since 1980 may fail to operate. Test conducted by the US government of public safety vehicles manufactured between 1980 and 2002, showed that many having more robust shielding, not found in vehicles produced for the civilian market could be restarted. The problem is that this was a limited today’s energy efficient cars have much more electronics.
Older cars made before 1980 with points and condenser ignition, without onboard computers would probably run, but Gaffney suggests having a spare starter coil and condenser on hand, just in case. Gasoline would be available from cars damaged by the EMP attack, but once this source ran out, there would be no more deliveries. With the power grid down and most vehicles not running, conditions would be very much like those described in the book One Second After by William R Forstchen.
While this is a fictionalized version of an EMP attack, it does describe the aftereffects well. You may want to take the time to read it. Many small electronic devices using field effect transistors (FETs) will fail if not protected in faraday cages. Batteries should survive without any problems. Faraday need to be a complete enclosure with no opening.
Here is a list of items people try to use for cages.
Shipping containers will not work because of their wooden floors.
Metal sheds with grounding will not provide any protection.
Microwave ovens will not provide adequate protection, even though they will block radio waves. A nuclear device that has been optimized to produce EMP will generate waves a million times that of a radio transmission.
Metal trash bins may not be thick enough metal to be reliable.
Mylar bags will not work.
Military specification "Tempest" enclosures and equipment bags will work
I would suggest doubling all your faraday cages. But don’t make the mistake of not making an effort to protect your critical electronics, medical devices, battery chargers, inverters, etc. A nuclear device may not function as designed, or may go astray and miss its targeted area. While it is true that information that we are getting may be wrong, intelligence estimates error on the side of safety. The sad thing is that the government knows exactly what we need to do to protect ourselves from an EMP attack and does not provide the public with that information, because they don't want to start a panic.
I am sure our enemies know it, so why can’t we?
73 de KE4SKY
In "Almost Heaven" West Virginia
USA