Problem is that the main transformers would be fried.....no spares....and no manufacturing capacity to build new ones.
My read is that the east is more vulnerable than the populated areas of the west because of the assumptions that (a) any event would be regional and (b) a few transformers may be dealt with without issue, and a few more is an inconvenience. Only where the number of large transformers is concentrated within a region would one run into insurmountable difficulties.
>> “Problem is that the main transformers would be fried.....no spares” <<
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A misperception at best.
You would likely be astounded at how much back-up hardware PG&E has stockpiled in hundreds of locations, and if you believe that they leave their transformers completely unprotected, you would be quite wrong.
Actually, EMP is not a great threat to transformers, but to intelligent switching devices. The lines and transformers are more like the antennas that direct the damage.
Long transmission lines, even if switched out, generate tremendous EMF just from swinging in the wind, and can sometimes even arc across an open switch during a wind storm, which is why out of service lines are often grounded at both ends.
Last time they intentionally shut the power off to avoid too much use during a winter storm, they blew transformers when they were turned back on. Doesn’t give me too much confidence in them getting anything working very quickly in a major fail.