Experts warn civilian world not ready for massive EMP-caused blackout

FILE: August 14, 2012: A view of the U.S. power grid from inside of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas's command center in Taylor, Texas. (REUTERS)

The catastrophic effects of an electromagnetic pulse-caused blackout could be preventable, but experts warn the civilian world is still not ready.

Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, both congressional advisory boards, said the technology to avoid disaster from electromagnetic pulses exists, and upgrading the nation's electrical grid is financially viable.

"The problem is not the technology," Pry said. "We know how to protect against it. It's not the money, it doesn't cost that much. The problem is the politics. It always seems to be the politics that gets in the way."

He said the more officials plan, the lower the estimated cost gets.

"If you do a smart plan - the Congressional EMP Commission estimated that you could protect the whole country for about $2 billion," Pry told Watchdog.org. "That's what we give away in foreign aid to Pakistan every year."

In the first few minutes of an EMP, nearly half a million people would die. That's the worst-case scenario that author William R. Forstchen estimated in 2011 would be the result of an EMP on the electric grid - whether by an act of God, or a nuclear missile detonating in Earth's upper atmosphere.

An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic energy strong enough to disable, and even destroy, nearby electronic devices.

Click for more from Watchdog.org.