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China-Japan-Koreas
How North Korea could wipe out electrical networks across the US with a high-altitude EMP blast
2017-09-06
[DailyMail] North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test has renewed fears of a devastating electro-magnetic pulse, or EMP, attack that could wipe out electrical grids across the US.

For the first time, North Korea specifically mentioned the possibility of an EMP attack on the US following Sunday's test of a 100-kiloton weapon, which the regime claims is a thermonuclear bomb.

The weapon could wipe out much of a city, but the pulse from a high-altitude blast could sow chaos and destruction far wider.
North Korea's state news agency warned that the weapon 'is a multifunctional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP attack.'


A nuclear bomb detonated 19 miles above the earth would affect Kansas and the surrounding states. One detonated at an altitude of 294 miles would affect most of the continental US. The map above shows EMP blast zones (red) of detonations at different altitudes (black numbers)
Posted by:JohnQC

#9  "Everything should have been hardened during the cold war. That it was not says a lot about our elites."

One of the least well informed comments at Rantburg, against stiff competition.

DTRA has spent a lot of time and effort attempting to model EMP potential effects and devise manageable hardening approaches that cost less than the GDP every year. The explosion of electronics everywhere, including related to the power grid(s - there's more than one), and the role of the Internet in SCADA signalling to control the grid, makes this extremely difficult to do.
Posted by: Knuckles Slineger2610   2017-09-06 19:57  

#8  Don't be all that surprised if/when a North Korean nuclear blast wipes out a large Chinese city. Stranger things in history have happened. You read it first on the 'Burg.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-09-06 13:45  

#7  A misslle launched from a ship in the gulf of Mexico would be impossable to intercept.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2017-09-06 11:29  

#6  A North Korean EMP attack would still be a nuclear attack by an identified adversary, very likely triggering nuclear retaliation.

I'd be more worried about North Korea organizing smaller scale (i.e. a few 100s or 1000s dead) WMD terror attacks on western targets.

North Korea, as a nuclear state sponsor of these attacks could then offer the alternative of paying protection money or getting used to monthly massacres.

If, hypothetically, there was a VX terror attack on Japan or even the US killing 1000s of people and North Korea was the likely state power behind this, only able and willing to maintain implausible deniability, would the US go to nuclear war over this? And what would be the consequences if there was no US response?

North Korea has already crossed the chemical WMD threshold. Nuclear deterrence and the use of WMD offer the not too unrealistic opportunity to turn Western nations into tributary states.

An EMP attack would be outright suicidal.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660   2017-09-06 10:55  

#5  Everything should have been hardened during the cold war. That it was not says a lot about our elites.

I'm not even talking about the Soviets either, solar storms and other natural things can cause all sorts of damage and our elites shrug and hope and spend the money on hookers or their new estates or whatever.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2017-09-06 10:29  

#4  Why would we ignore the thing as it rose from North Korea, not shooting it down over China or the ocean?
Posted by: trailing wife   2017-09-06 10:19  

#3  Fleming valve audio amplifiers would be fine

Only if we can use them to order pizza and read the 'Burg.
Posted by: gorb   2017-09-06 09:54  

#2  It would take several weapons to wipe out the US grid system. The effect of one warhead is limited by the size of the weapon and the altitude it's detonated.
Mainly, our cell phones would be fried but our Fleming valve audio amplifiers would be fine.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2017-09-06 09:39  

#1  As anyone else with the capability, which the Norks have yet to achieve. Why haven't you taken hardening measures because of others but now with Kimmy you seem to pay attention?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-09-06 08:41  

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