From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,873e3ac877e7b6b6 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-08-16 10:10:38 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!wn14feed!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi_feed4!attbi.com!rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F3E6586.1080702@attbi.com> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Nuclear Reactors & Blackout References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.31.71.243 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net 1061053837 66.31.71.243 (Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:10:37 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:10:37 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:10:37 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:41597 Date: 2003-08-16T17:10:37+00:00 List-Id: Wes Groleau wrote: > > Each section should disconnect from the grid > if the grid threatens to demand from them > more power than they can provide safely. If they > are a net consumer, and the grid stops providing, > they must shut down if their local demand would > exceed capacity dangerously. No that worked, and the grid fractured into multiple parts. I was just looking at a map of the pieces. (Whoops! Actually for the 1965 blackout: http://www.cmpco.com/about/system/blackout.html) Once that happened, as you point out, areas that were net consumers of electricity--at the moment when it happened were SOL. This probably did not apply to the PJD interconnect (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland) because they tend to keep most of Conowingo Dam on-line idling to deal with peaking problems. There are probably other regional interconnects that do the same. Conowingo only generates 512 Megawatts, but its generators are significantly overbuilt by modern standards and can handle a short overload in the multi-gigawatt range. It had to in the 1965 blackout. Before the surges in the interconnects south of New York were balanced out, Conowingo exceeded three gigawatts out AND two gigawatts in, but each of those peaks was on the order of three or four cycles (1/15th to 1/20th of a second). Here is a half decent story on what happened. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63438-2003Aug15?language=printer The current thinking is that the trigger was a plant in Michigan. But the important point is that the Lake Erie loop can act as an amplifier for transients when heavily loaded. (Power normally flows east both north and south of the lake. But transients cause phase shifts, and if the shifts north and south of the lake are out of synchronization, a lot of power flows in a circle. During the blackout, it flowed first one way, then reversed direction... -- "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac, President of France "As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh