Michio Kaku: Power Grid at Risk in 2012
Michio Kaku on CNN last week, discussing what could happen in 2012. After he explains the peak of the solar cycle is coming up, he says:
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/12/27/exp-am-kaku-2012-science.cnn
Kaku:
“Every eleven years the Sun has a temper tantrum, throws a volley of radiation at the Earth. So far we’ve dodged the bullet, but we’re very young in the Space Age, we’re not used to having our satellites knocked out because of a solar flare, but it could happen”.
Interviewer:
“What are the implications of that?”
Kaku:
“Well, that means the Internet, GPS, weather satellites, all of it is on the Internet, plus telecommunications on the Earth could also be disrupted. In Quebec they had a blackout once because a solar flare hit the planet Earth… and our power plants are not reinforced. We physicists have asked Congress to pay a few hundred million dollars to reinforce our power plants, make redundant satellite systems, because at some point it’s going to happen.
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Kaku is not a doom’n’gloom guy, which is a shame because people listen to him. He will know that a probable consequence of the US power grid being knocked out is millions of deaths. But he’s not saying it, and we really need a popular, respected scientist to be telling people this through mass media.
