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It's funny how nuclear power station meltdowns come to mind before hospitals and building heating. Anyway nuclear plants undergo quite a bit of study and prote

It's funny how nuclear power station meltdowns come to mind before hospitals and building heating. Anyway nuclear plants undergo quite a bit of study and protection against these kinds of events (solar or military/terrorist EMP) and are expected to just shut down safely. [1] https://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2016/07/05/update-keeping-u-s-reactors-safe-from-power-pulses/ https://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2016/07/05/update-keepin... [2] https://www.utilitydive.com/news/epri-threat-of-emp-attacks-on-us-transmission-has-been-overstated/553795/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/epri-threat-of-emp-attacks-... [3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/01/03/can-nuclear-power-plants-resist-attacks-of-electromagnetic-pulse-emp/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/01/03/can-nucle...

randmeerkat 6y ago
I would be more confident in the engineering design behind nuclear power plants if a nuclear plant in Texas hadn’t just frozen last week.
- acidburnNSA 6y ago
  A sensor froze on the turbine island and they shut down as a precautionary measure. As with all the Texas generators of all kinds, they were not robustly winterized.
monkeynotes 6y ago
Famous last words "a reactor melt down isn't possible". Russian disasters aside, the Fukushima meltdown happened because the backup power needed to pump water to keep the core cool as the plant shut down failed. Now, it's not a far stretch to imagine that a CME event causes a power station shut down, as you describe, but without the generators working to keep the reactor cool as it fully shuts down you have a disaster on your hands. Furthermore chances of this sort of thing happening are increased when the whole planet is affected. As for hospitals, lots of things came to mind including hospitals. Just in my mind a nuclear disaster seemed to have a much higher potential for wiping out lives.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

randmeerkat 6y ago

I would be more confident in the engineering design behind nuclear power plants if a nuclear plant in Texas hadn’t just frozen last week.

acidburnNSA 6y ago
A sensor froze on the turbine island and they shut down as a precautionary measure. As with all the Texas generators of all kinds, they were not robustly winterized.

monkeynotes 6y ago

Famous last words "a reactor melt down isn't possible". Russian disasters aside, the Fukushima meltdown happened because the backup power needed to pump water to keep the core cool as the plant shut down failed. Now, it's not a far stretch to imagine that a CME event causes a power station shut down, as you describe, but without the generators working to keep the reactor cool as it fully shuts down you have a disaster on your hands. Furthermore chances of this sort of thing happening are increased when the whole planet is affected. As for hospitals, lots of things came to mind including hospitals. Just in my mind a nuclear disaster seemed to have a much higher potential for wiping out lives.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]