There are 12,000 nuclear weapons in the world: 3 of them can destroy the U.S. The detonation of a 1.44-megaton W49 nuclear warhead 250 miles above Johnston Island in 1962 resulted in the first recorded high-altitude electromagnetic pulse. A photo taken 860 miles away in Hawaii, far enough away to prevent severe retinal burns in the eyes of observers in Honolulu (military officials had moved the site of the test from Bikini Atoll because the nuclear fireball could blind people up to 400 miles away).

An EMP Attack on the U.S. Power Grids and Critical National Infrastructure
Steven Starr / The Unz Review

Excerpt

(June 11, 2025) — Late one cold winter night, during a massive winter storm that covers most of the Central and Eastern United States, a 100-kiloton nuclear warhead suddenly explodes 100 miles above Dallas, Texas. Two minutes later, identical nuclear warheads explode over Las Vegas, Nevada, and Columbus, Ohio. Each nuclear high-altitude detonation produces an enormous electromagnetic pulse (EMP); the three EMPs together blanket most of the continental United States.

In a few billionths of a second, the initial EMP E1 waves induce massive voltages and currents into powerlines throughout the three U.S. power grids. Any unshielded modern electronic device plugged into the grid instantly has its circuits fried; this includes all the computers and devices that control the operation of most U.S. critical national infrastructure — including the Emergency Power Systems and active Emergency Core Cooling Systems of at least 26 commercial nuclear reactors.

Huge surges of electricity created by the E1 waves wreck the control panels of High-Voltage Substations and destroy the computers at power plants and power distribution centers. The combined effects of this catastrophic damage cause all three U.S. power grids to suddenly collapse.

A few seconds later, the following EMP E3B Heave Waves destroy most of the Extra High Voltage (EHV) Circuit Breakers and at least one-third of the Large Power Transformers (LPTs) that are required for the long-distance transmission of 90% of the electricity in the U.S. The damage and destruction of the EHV Circuit Breakers and LPTs will leave entire regions of the U.S. without electric power for a year or longer . . .

It is the dead of winter, in the middle of a major winter storm, and electricity is no longer available for most Americans, who now find themselves in dark, freezing cold homes where nothing works anymore. No lights, heat, running water, phone, internet, TV, and soon, no food. If their cars can still start, they will find the highways blocked by other vehicles disabled by the initial E1 wave.

Gasoline can no longer be pumped out of underground tanks. Food deliveries to the cities stop. People attempt to flee from regions receiving massive radioactive fallout that are downwind from destroyed nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools. Society collapses as millions of starving and freezing people do anything to try to survive.

Read the entire article online at:
https://www.unz.com/article/an-emp-attack-on-the-u-s-power-grids-and-critical-national-infrastructure/