美国国家公共电台 NPR--Attacks on states' substations raises questions about power grid safety

Attacks on states' substations raises questions about power grid¹ safety

Transcript²

NPR's Rob Schmitz talks to Richard Mroz, former president of the New Jersey³ Board of Public Utilities and a senior adviser⁴ at Protect Our Power, about physical vulnerabilities of the U.S. grid.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The U.S. power grid is part of the country's critical infrastructure⁵. Recent attacks on electrical substations in several states have raised security concerns. So Rob Schmitz spoke⁶ with Richard Mroz, a senior adviser at Protect Our Power, about the grid's vulnerabilities.

RICHARD MROZ: On the whole, I'd say that the grid is fairly secure, but there are going to be vulnerabilities for a variety of reasons, and we're seeing that from the most recent physical attacks, where some of the substations were shot at by small arms. But we also have other vulnerabilities that include cybersecurity or severe weather. So the grid is in fairly good shape. Investments have been made. But there continue to be vulnerabilities in different regions or different areas and from different types of threats.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE⁷: So in 2014, a leaked report indicated that the U.S. had over 55,000 transformers nationwide. However, an attack on only nine could cripple the power grid across the country. That sounds incredible. And I'm wondering if the situation has changed since 2014, and it's now more difficult to do that.

MROZ: Well, first, that report that you're referring to does focus on a handful of critical facilities that, if they were disrupted for the long term, we would probably lose large segments of the grid throughout the country. There are high-impact targets, several critical facilities which probably couldn't get rebuilt very quickly.

SCHMITZ: And how easy would it be for someone or a group to knock out one of those high-impact facilities?

MROZ: Well, knocking out those high-impact facilities is probably harder than everyone would think. Those are being protected. There have been protective measures. They've been identified. And the industry, as well as policymakers and regulators, need to be thinking about the cascading⁸ events, where there could be multiple types of threats, storms, plus even an intentional⁹ act, that could bring those down. So we need to be continuing to look at these vulnerabilities and try to protect them, even if there are multiple threats to those kinds of critical facilities.

SCHMITZ: Oftentimes, you know, when we talk about the grid, we think about massive power stations - coal-fired, natural gas, et cetera. But obviously, the United States is moving closer to more renewable energy sources. And I'm wondering, you know, how do these sources potentially increase the grid reliability¹⁰ and security?

MROZ: Well, at one level, that movement towards distributed resources, whether it's solar or other small generation sources that are distributed away from those big facilities we just talked about, actually in one way support the security of the grid. They make it less likely that one critical facility will be disrupted, and then a large region goes down. But on the other side of that coin is the fact that much of this new distributed energy resource is digitized. So with the digitization of a lot of this equipment, that increases the vulnerability on things like cybersecurity. So that's why there needs to be this all-hazards approach to whether it's the electric or rest of our critical infrastructure and particularly this increased digitization.

SCHMITZ: Should there be a nationwide outage, which I think is a big if, how easy is it to restart the grid?

MROZ: First, I think you're right. It's a big if. That's a highly unlikely event. But the issue of black start - that is, starting the electric grid up from a total blackout - is not as easy as one might imagine. And it has to be done in a certain manner to make sure that the power can be increased from one level to another.

SCHMITZ: That's Richard Mroz. He's the former president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and a senior advisor¹¹ at Protect Our Power. Thanks, Richard.

MROZ: Thank you.

1 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

9 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

10 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

11 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。