User:Lethlorian/Nuclear electromagnetic pulse

Protecting infrastructure
The problem of protecting civilian infrastructure from electromagnetic pulse has been intensively studied throughout the European Union, and in particular by the United Kingdom.

As of 2017, several power utility companies in the United States had been involved in a three-year research program on the impact of HEMP to the United States power grid led by an industry non-profit organization, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

In 2018, The US's Department of Homeland Security released the Strategy for Protecting and Preparing the Homeland against Threats from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD), which was the Department’s first articulation of a holistic, long-term, partnership-based approach to protecting critical infrastructure and preparing to respond and recover from potentially catastrophic electromagnetic incidents. Progress on that front is described in the EMP Program Status Report.

NuScale, the small modular nuclear reactor company from Oregon, USA, has made their reactor resistant to EMP.

Automated monitoring and controlled systems also known as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are the backbone of the computer age. They are critical for mass data transformation across the globe. These systems control fuel lines, water management, and controlling the grid. These systems are not usually in populated environments, but in remote locations and operate autonomously. By being in remote operation it leaves them heavily susceptible to EMP attacks. Due to the nature of these systems companies are investing billions of dollars each year into developing safer SCADA systems to protect them from EMP blasts to prevent massive infrastructure damages. With the protection of these systems EMP attacks would pose little threat to the infrastructure as water, fuel, and electricity would still be able to flow. However, this is a huge cost as the systems are highly complex and integrated through out each system and would take years to replace.