Terrorists could black out large segments of the United States for
weeks or months by attacking the power grid and damaging hard-to-replace
components that are crucial to making it work, the National Academy of
Sciences said in a report released last Wednesday.
While the report is the most authoritative yet on the subject, the grid’s vulnerability has long been obvious to independent engineers and to the electric industry itself, which has intermittently tried, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, to rehearse responses.
Of particular concern are giant custom-built transformers that increase the voltage of electricity to levels suited for bulk transmission and then reduce voltage for distribution to customers. Very few of those transformers are manufactured in the United States, and replacing them can take many months.
Read more: http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Americas-Power-Grid-Vulnerable-to-Terrorist-Attacks.html
While the report is the most authoritative yet on the subject, the grid’s vulnerability has long been obvious to independent engineers and to the electric industry itself, which has intermittently tried, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, to rehearse responses.
Of particular concern are giant custom-built transformers that increase the voltage of electricity to levels suited for bulk transmission and then reduce voltage for distribution to customers. Very few of those transformers are manufactured in the United States, and replacing them can take many months.
Read more: http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Americas-Power-Grid-Vulnerable-to-Terrorist-Attacks.html
No comments:
Post a Comment