[_Jim]

How survivable is the grid if all the coal fired plants are taken out of service by destruction of the railroad delivery of coal? Assume rebuilding the key bridges takes 6 months and the current "on the ground" storage is estimated at 6 weeks. Is there enough reserve in other forms of generation?

First of all -

a) you tell me what 'the grid' is: what it's benefits are, what was the historical derivation or development of same over the last 100 years

b) then briefly explain alternative topologies to 'the grid' - also list the negative factors that such alternative topologies bring with them in contrast to 'the grid'.

We need to *perfectly* understand a few basic terms here before we go into any hypotheticals ...

[Myrddin]

Let's not burn bandwidth re-educating you about the nature of the "grid". That's a pedantic power trip for you.

Let's select a real target: New York City. If all the coal fired plants go offline, does New York stay in business?

[null and void]

We need to *perfectly* understand a few basic terms here before we go into any hypotheticals ...

Unfortunately our enemies are under no such restriction. One does not need to *perfectly* understand a pipe organ to smash it to bits...