# The US electrical grid is too crap 2 be vulnerable to terrorist attack say physicists



## susurration (Oct 22, 2009)

Sorry, had to add the '2' in the title in order to fit the whole title in...










The US government worries that terrorists could take down the country's electrical grid just by hitting a small node in the system. But a new study reveals the grid is too unreliable for that kind of attack.

Last year, network theorists published some papers suggesting that terrorists could take down the entire US electrical grid by attacking a small, remote power station. But new research shows that network theory models, which great for analyzing many complex systems, don't work for patchwork systems like the US electrical grid. Basically, the grid was set up so haphazardly that you'd have to take out a major node before you'd affect the entire thing. (Want to see a map of the US electrical grid? Check out this one on NPR.)

Science Daily sums up:


> [The] electric grid is probably more secure that many people realize — because it is so unpredictable. This, of course, makes it hard to improve its reliability (in another line of research, [study co-author Paul] Hines has explored why the rate of blackouts in the United States hasn't improved in decades), but the up-side of this fact is that it would be hard for a terrorist to bring large parts of the grid down by attacking just one small part.


The researchers based their conclusions on real-world data from the power grid in the eastern U.S. Read the full scientific paper via Do topological models provide good information about electricity infrastructure vulnerability? | Browse - Chaos

via Why it's hard to crash the electric grid

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Source: The US electrical grid is too crappy to be vulnerable to terrorist attack, say physicists


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## Scruffy (Aug 17, 2009)

Yeah, shit like this happens:

Northeast Blackout of 2003 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## ilphithra (Jun 22, 2010)

*Pro tip*: stop putting your damn electric wires on poles above the ground and start burying them like we do in most of Europe.
*Pro tip 2*: Stop being paranoid and build up decent grids.

While we're at it, here's another Pro Tip: Stop making wood houses where you have hurricanes hitting.


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## TreeBob (Oct 11, 2008)

The underground wire thing is actually happening slowly. I know many places in Canada have underground now. I assume the US states are switching over when they can as well. As for the houses, people build what they can afford. 

and LOL at this fact on wiki.



> New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who formerly headed the Department of Energy, in a live television interview 2 hours into the blackout characterized the United States as "a superpower with a third-world electricity grid." In Europe, this statement was published accompanied with comparisons highlighting the tighter, safer and better interconnected European electricity network (though it would suffer a similar blackout six weeks later).



So suck that Europe.


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## ilphithra (Jun 22, 2010)

TreeBob said:


> The underground wire thing is actually happening slowly. I know many places in Canada have underground now. I assume the US states are switching over when they can as well. As for the houses, people build what they can afford.
> 
> and LOL at this fact on wiki.
> 
> So suck that Europe.


Let's see... 

- That wiki quote is in fact, bashing the US grid.
- Our energy grids are better.
- We don't get power knockouts/power surges high and low from a thunderstorm. I can leave everything plugged in.
- We've been placing wires under the ground for years, US only just started.

As for the power outage... did I say our grids are infallible? No, I didn't... I never claimed that.
But sorry to tell you, US ones are worse, that is a fact.


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## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

But if this article is any way accurate, then crappiness prevails! ...When it comes to terrorist attacks, anway. :crazy:


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## Agile (Sep 27, 2010)

I just wanted to comment on my curiosity on why the US government will publicize it's weakness in such a fashion, but yet it is so easy for them to hide other secrets as a means of "national security". I wonder if this is related to cap & trade.


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## Hardstyler (Sep 4, 2010)

Looks like everyone should get solar panel in case of a terrorist attack?


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## ilphithra (Jun 22, 2010)

BassClef said:


> I just wanted to comment on my curiosity on why the US government will publicize it's weakness in such a fashion, but yet it is so easy for them to hide other secrets as a means of "national security". I wonder if this is related to cap & trade.


I smell info being "fed"... if you know what I mean.



Hardstyler said:


> Looks like everyone should get solar panel in case of a terrorist attack?


Solar panels should be mandatory in all houses, apartment buildings, office buildings, etc, and the government, regardless of country, should encourage it by paying at least a part of it. But that's my green side speaking.


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## Hardstyler (Sep 4, 2010)

ilphithra said:


> I smell info being "fed"... if you know what I mean.
> 
> 
> Solar panels should be mandatory in all houses, apartment buildings, office buildings, etc, and the government, regardless of country, should encourage it by paying at least a part of it. But that's my green side speaking.


I support green energy. I always wish there would be more solar plants in the southwest of America and mid west. California is pretty good with wind energy. I'm just sick of burning of fossilized fuels. I believe in pollution depleting the ozone layer thus allowing more unfiltered uv rays creating more heat.but for carbon dioxide problems we need to save the environment and rely more on farming.I also belive in nuclear fission but the waste it produce is a problem. I wish scientist could hurry up on cold fusion reactors


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## Agile (Sep 27, 2010)

ilphithra said:


> I smell info being "fed"... if you know what I mean.



I'm guilty of being a natural skeptic. If you decide to eat it, it's your choice.


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## exp (Sep 30, 2010)

ilphithra said:


> *Pro tip*: stop putting your damn electric wires on poles above the ground and start burying them like we do in most of Europe.
> *Pro tip 2*: Stop being paranoid and build up decent grids.
> 
> While we're at it, here's another Pro Tip: Stop making wood houses where you have hurricanes hitting.


:laughing:

Good tips. Another: Stop rebuilding your house (or placing your house trailer!) beside the same river which floods every 2-5 years.




Nova said:


> But new research shows that network theory models, which great for analyzing many complex systems, don't work for patchwork systems like the US electrical grid. Basically, the grid was set up so haphazardly that you'd have to take out a major node before you'd affect the entire thing.


It's ironic that this is the same reason why it's nearly impossible to take out al Qaeda.


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## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

So we're blessed with suck?

Blessed With Suck - Television Tropes & Idioms


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