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19 Additional Considerations When Responding to a Nuclear Attack
can begin the task of overseeing the emergency response while keeping the city
running, asking for assistance, and the other work of government. “Multiple plans”
should also include contingency plans for assembling lower-level officials in the
event more senior personnel cannot be contacted.
Having plans is a good start, but these plans must be communicated to those they
affect and they must be practiced as well; the Mayor (for example) needs to know
who should be called to let City Hall know that they are alive, and the person taking
that call needs to know who to try to contact if the Commissioner of Health fails to
establish contact within 30 min (or whatever time frame is agreed upon). And all
of the senior officials should know how many of them need to assemble to form a
quorum authorized to make decisions on behalf of the city. Until such a plan exists,
until there is a list of names and several alternates for each, and until such a plan has
been practiced by all involved, the city cannot be said to have an assured continuity
of government and might not be able to provide a coherent and effective response in
the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack.
19.5 Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)
When a nuclear weapon explodes it sends an intense pulse of ionizing radiation
into the environment. This ionizing radiation creates pairs of charged ions in the
atmosphere; the light electrons can travel further and faster than the heavier ions,
creating a separation of electrical charge in the atmosphere. This separation of charge,
in turn, gives rise to an electrical current as the positive and negative charges flow
back towards each other to recombine. It is this process that drives the formation of
an electromagnetic pulse that, in turn, can induce electrical currents in pipes, cables,
and other conductive materials [4].
The effects of EMP were hypothesized, but were not fully appreciated until 1962,
when a high-altitude atmospheric test called Starfish Prime caused large-scale electrical problems in Hawaii, over 1400 km away [3]. However, due to the ban on
atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, only a handful of tests could be studied for
their EMP effects. Thus, EMP theory is more complete than are observations of EMP.
However, we do know that the currents induced by EMP can cause fires, trip
circuit breakers, and can damage or destroy unshielded electronics. It also appears
that the effects of EMP are limited in radius to the line-of-sight distance to the horizon
from the location of the detonation; for a surface burst, this is about 10 km or less;
for a high-altitude burst, this can be more than 1000 km. Within that radius, we
should expect that the EMP will damage or destroy all computers, communications
equipment, and other electrical and electronic gear that was operating at the time of
the EMP. It is also reasonable to assume that parts of the city’s electrical generation
and distribution system will be damaged or rendered inoperable; if the radius of
the EMP includes transformer yards and power generation facilities then electrical
power can be lost over large swathes of the city.
19 Additional Considerations When Responding to a Nuclear Attack
can begin the task of overseeing the emergency response while keeping the city
running, asking for assistance, and the other work of government. “Multiple plans”
should also include contingency plans for assembling lower-level officials in the
event more senior personnel cannot be contacted.
Having plans is a good start, but these plans must be communicated to those they
affect and they must be practiced as well; the Mayor (for example) needs to know
who should be called to let City Hall know that they are alive, and the person taking
that call needs to know who to try to contact if the Commissioner of Health fails to
establish contact within 30 min (or whatever time frame is agreed upon). And all
of the senior officials should know how many of them need to assemble to form a
quorum authorized to make decisions on behalf of the city. Until such a plan exists,
until there is a list of names and several alternates for each, and until such a plan has
been practiced by all involved, the city cannot be said to have an assured continuity
of government and might not be able to provide a coherent and effective response in
the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack.
19.5 Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)
When a nuclear weapon explodes it sends an intense pulse of ionizing radiation
into the environment. This ionizing radiation creates pairs of charged ions in the
atmosphere; the light electrons can travel further and faster than the heavier ions,
creating a separation of electrical charge in the atmosphere. This separation of charge,
in turn, gives rise to an electrical current as the positive and negative charges flow
back towards each other to recombine. It is this process that drives the formation of
an electromagnetic pulse that, in turn, can induce electrical currents in pipes, cables,
and other conductive materials [4].
The effects of EMP were hypothesized, but were not fully appreciated until 1962,
when a high-altitude atmospheric test called Starfish Prime caused large-scale electrical problems in Hawaii, over 1400 km away [3]. However, due to the ban on
atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, only a handful of tests could be studied for
their EMP effects. Thus, EMP theory is more complete than are observations of EMP.
However, we do know that the currents induced by EMP can cause fires, trip
circuit breakers, and can damage or destroy unshielded electronics. It also appears
that the effects of EMP are limited in radius to the line-of-sight distance to the horizon
from the location of the detonation; for a surface burst, this is about 10 km or less;
for a high-altitude burst, this can be more than 1000 km. Within that radius, we
should expect that the EMP will damage or destroy all computers, communications
equipment, and other electrical and electronic gear that was operating at the time of
the EMP. It is also reasonable to assume that parts of the city’s electrical generation
and distribution system will be damaged or rendered inoperable; if the radius of
the EMP includes transformer yards and power generation facilities then electrical
power can be lost over large swathes of the city.