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Episode-2683- Jeff Yago on Prepping for EMPs and CMEs — 3 Comments

  1. I used to work at a company that made control equipment for the electric power industry. They make the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) that Jeff was talking about.

    The engineers were aware of the EMP problem and addressed it at one of our weekly company meetings. They were a bit flippant about it, giving me the idea that most of them think this is a bit of a “tin hat” concern. Well, people weren’t treating the possibility of a new worldwide pandemic very seriously, either, were they?

    Anyway, the engineers showed how resistant to EMP our electronic equipment was. In addition to that, I know that electric companies have battery backup for their control systems. They have to do that. The electric companies, in general, are pretty sensitive to the possibility of outages. But the technology is what it is. It uses incredibly long transmission lines with transformers at each end. Jeff is right about the big transformers. They are very expensive to replace. Almost as bad as electric plant generators themselves.

    But it really is amazing, when you think about it, how much crossing of fingers goes on among those who own and control these huge systems. They know very well that they are helpless to protect these systems from really major destructive events. They just hope that everyone realizes how interdependent they are and decides to “play safe.” As for the sun and its outbursts, well, maybe someone should have thought of that earlier, eh?

    The founder of the company I mentioned used to tell us at our weekly meetings that “risk is the only moral justification for profit.” Well, maybe this is what he was really talking about. The “old school” way to “prep” is to be so rich that you can afford to be fully prepared. Maybe some folks think that’s as good as they can do – and leave the rest of us in the dust. Doesn’t seem like a very human thing to do, though.

    Those who think they can prep for this – go for it. I’ve written a screenplay imagining a fictional similar scenario, available on my blog. In my story, it takes about 100 years to fully recover.

  2. I really don’t want more government oversight in any industry.. including electrical

  3. I’d be interested if something as critical as this should be included in a strategic supply like the Oil reserves. Especially with how critical it is for the military as well.