Category Archives: Nuclear Bombs

Is battery backup a viable option in a grid failure?

Several chapters in The Doomsday Book talk about power grid failures, because there are multiple ways for the grid to fail, including:

  • Coronal Mass Ejections
  • Terrorist attacks
  • EMP attacks by foreign countries
  • Bad weather, like hurricanes

Hardening the grid against these problems can limit the duration of grid failures, but we will probably never have a grid with 100% uptime. I have personally been in a grid failure, caused by a hurricane, that lasted a week, and one caused by an ice storm that lasted several days.

What are the options for people when the grid fails. It is possible, with enough money, to create a whole-house backup system that can provide power for a long time. A large generator running on natural gas or propane can do it. So can a big battery bank with a large solar array.

The problem is that whole-house can mean a lot of power. Things like air conditioning, deep well pumps, electric hot water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, and electric car recharging require lots of power. You might need a 20 kw generator to handle the entire load of a typical suburban home. A battery bank need 100 kilowatt-hours of capacity plus a huge inverter to handle the full load of a house for any reasonable period of time. Both options get expensive.

This is why the book advocates a much smaller approach, understanding that if the goal is to provide only the essentials, the equipment needs are radically smaller and therefore affordable. For example, Keeping an internet modem plus router up, along with the ability to recharge devices like laptops and phones, takes relatively little power. Building a backup system to supply just these needs costs a few hundred dollars. The size of the battery is a few kilowatt hours and the inverter is small. A single solar panel could extend the duration significantly, perhaps indefinitely. At this low price point, every home or apartment could have this facility and then, in the case of a power grid failure, everyone would be able to communicate and use the internet.

This article talks about some of the issues with trying to build a whole-house system, rather than a small targeted system for backup power:

The Myth of Whole-Home Battery Backup

Lots of insights in here about backup power.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Will World War 3 start with a strike on Iran?

There is concern that departing President Trump will do something irrational in the waning days of his tenure and that it will have large-scale repercussions. For example:

Trump Sought Options for Attacking Iran to Stop Its Growing Nuclear Program

From the article:

“President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks…. A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency.”

Iran’s response was nearly immediate:

Iran warns of ‘crushing response’ if Trump targets nuclear site

Iran has warned of a strong response if Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to use the twilight of his presidency to mount a strike on Iran or its allies in the region… Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei warned against such an attack. “Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response,” he said.

And soon WW3 could be underway. For example, Israel may want to get involved:

Iran warns of ‘crushing’ response after report Trump mulled military strike

“If I were the Iranians, I would not feel at ease,” Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, according to Reuters, referring to the reports… “It is very important that the Iranians know that if, indeed, they suddenly dash toward high levels of enrichment, in the direction of nuclear weaponry, they are liable to encounter the military might of the United States — and also, perhaps, of other countries,” Steinitz said on Israel’s Army Radio.

Saudi Arabia is making noises as well:

Saudi minister says nuclear armament against Iran ‘an option’

Meanwhile, Trump is trying other dubious paths before he is ousted:

Trump officials rush to auction off rights to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden can block it; Officials aim to sell drilling rights to the pristine wilderness’s coastal plain before the president-elect takes office

The Trump administration is asking oil and gas firms to pick spots where they want to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it races to open the pristine wilderness to development and lock in drilling rights before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

See also:

Trump aides privately plot a flurry of moves in their final 10 weeks

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Iran now has 2,000kg (4,000 pounds) of enriched uranium

Iran has been producing enriched uranium at a breakneck pace and now has about a ton of enriched uranium. This means that Iran has been increasing the amount of uranium it can process, and the process it is using is effective. Further, it indicates that Iran could easily take the next step and start producing weapons-grade (90%) enriched uranium:

Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile ’10 times limit’

“Iran now has more than 10 times the amount of enriched uranium permitted under an international agreement, the UN’s nuclear watchdog says. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile had reached 2,105kg (4,640lb).”

From Iran’s perspective it is a spectacular achievement. From the world’s perspective it points toward the potential emergence of yet another nation with nuclear weapons.

One possible reaction is to go to war with Iran as described in this article:

Are Israel and the US planning to attack Iran?

This is important to keep in mind amid speculation – once again during a presidential lame duck period – that in his last few weeks in office, Donald Trump will either order US military action against Iran or give Israel a green light, as well as some assistance, to do so on its own.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

The Terrorist Threat from Drones, Rockets and Missiles

One Doomsday Scenario that should cause great concern is the threat from terrorists using drones and other flying missiles. Terrorists can deploy bombs, chemical weapons or biological agents through these mechanisms. The problem is that the technology becomes more and more accessible with each passing day. The consumer marketplace has driven an amazing amount of innovation and democratization.

For example, this video demonstrates a cruise missile launch system hidden inside a normal steel shipping container:

Concern-Agat | Russian 3M-54 Club-K Container Missile System | Simulation and Test Fire

Several articles covered the video when it was released, such as:

At £10 million, the price is prohibitive, but the ability of hobby-level amateurs to replace these systems today at much lower price points is growing. What if small nations or groups of individuals can accomplish the same thing for $10,000?

Qassam rockets show just how inventive and resourceful guerrilla fighters can be:

If you take a look at the basic design on a cruise missile, you can see that these are not complicated machines:

You need an airframe, an engine and its fuel, and a guidance system. In 2020, it is relatively easy to do these things. There are even sites on the Internet to help you:

A DIY Cruise Missile

For the engine you can consider micro jet engines as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAJM5L9hhBs For guidance there are now dozens of options like this:

UAV v2 Development Platform

There are no technical roadblocks to prevent any decent tinkerer from building a cruise missile.

See also:

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

The Amazing Vulnerability of the United States Power Grid because of Transformers

Electricity is as important to modern society as oxygen is to biological organisms. But the United States power grid is remarkably vulnerable to attack by both man and nature:

The problem that the United States faces is that anything that destroys a large number of critical transformers creates an impossible situation because there is no easy way to procure and install replacements. This video lays out the scenario:

Govt. Documents See Risk of Surprise EMP Attack

“EMP. Why don’t we talk about electromagnetic pulse risks more? Recent U.S. government documents see an attack as not only possible, but the first choice of countries like Iran, Russia, China and North Korea. So much so that an Executive Order in 2019 tasked the Departments of Homeland Security and Energy to assess options to increase “resilience” before and after an attack. CIA officials think even a moderate sized nuclear weapon detonated at the right altitude above the center of the U.S. could knock out power for most of the country. With no power, food, water, gasoline and telecommunications networks have a likelihood of failing.”

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

North Korea Unveils Missiles Able to Strike Any Location in the United States

In an unprecedented show of force, North Korea held a parade to unveil its latest massive missiles able to strike the United States:

North Korea’s new ‘monster’ intercontinental ballistic missiles on show at military parade

Analysts said the missile, which was shown on a transporter vehicle with 11 axles, would be one of the largest road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the world if it becomes operational. “This missile is a monster,” said Melissa Hanham, deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network. Also displayed were the Hwasong-15, which is the longest-range missile ever tested by North Korea, and what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)… The new ICBM is likely intended to dispel doubts about North Korea’s ability to strike the continental United States, and an implicit threat that they are preparing to test the larger missile, said Markus Garlauskas, a former U.S. intelligence officer for North Korea. “If the Hwasong-15 could carry a ‘super-large’ nuclear warhead to anywhere in the U.S., then the natural question is what can this larger missile carry?,” he said.

North Korea is currently thought to hold a stockpile of 30-40 nuclear weapons:

North Korea has a military nuclear weapons program and, as of early 2020, is estimated to have an arsenal of approximately 30-40 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of fissile material for 6-7 nuclear weapons per year. North Korea has also stockpiled a significant quantity of chemical and biological weapons.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City

An asteroid strike is one kind of doomsday scenario. Depending on the size of the asteroid, it could mean anything from “shooting star” to a mass extinction event. But, fortunately, large asteroid strikes are rare.

A nuclear bomb strike, on the other hand, is far easier to imagine. Humankind has thousands of nuclear bombs in its national nuclear bomb warehouses. There is also the threat that terrorists get hold of a nuke somehow and target a city. Either way, this video shows what a nuclear bomb doomsday scenario would look like for a major city:

Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City

Not good. One way of another, humanity must understand and gain control of the nuclear bomb problem.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Russia’s Super-Tsunami Nuclear Weapon

This video goes into detail on Russia’s super-tsunami nuclear weapon, known as Poseidon:

Can Russia’s Doomsday Weapon Be Stopped? Status-6/Poseidon

If deployed, this weapon would be devastating to coastal cities. It is an unmanned robotic sub that carries a large nuclear warhead. It is nearly undetectable and can spend months to get to its target if need be. If detonated near a coastal city like New York, both the tsunami and the blast itself would be incredibly destructive. It might also be used to destroy an entire carrier battle group at sea.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Noam Chomsky: The world is at the most dangerous moment in human history

Noam Chomsky: The world is at the most dangerous moment in human history

The US professor warns that the climate crisis, the threat of nuclear war and rising authoritarianism mean the risk of human extinction has never been greater. 

It is a chilling warning. And it is understated. If we break out some of the more serious side effects of Climate Change individually (e.g. a mass extinction event, rainforest collapse, sea level rise, climate migration, etc.) we can see that climate change alone will have epic effects. Then add in all of the economic stress and dysfunction caused by the pandemic. Don’t forget the unexpected things like the locust plague.

The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.