Program Information

At 5:15 PM on November 9, 1965 most of the northeastern United States went dark. The cause? Not a terrorist attack. Not a group of incompetent workers. Not a huge natural disaster. The great blackout was caused by a small metal relay doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

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Transcript

Lead: At 5:15 PM on November 9, 1965 most of the northeastern United States went dark. The cause? Not a terrorist attack. Not a group of incompetent workers. Not a huge natural disaster. The great blackout was caused by a small metal relay doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

Tag: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: The power grid of a modern industrial nation is a highly- complex and intricate creation. Different regions demand power at different levels at different times. As a result power is often consumed at great distances from the place it is generated. One city may have a huge demand at the same time another's requirement is relatively meager. The power network is set up to divert surplus electricity from light-demand areas to those where the needs are greater.

The Great Blackout of 1965 was caused by a relay that performed perfectly. In order to protect the vast generators that produce power, relays are installed at various locations in the power grid to prevent excessive power demands from burning up the dynamos. The relays are set to permit power to flow at a certain levels based on the needs of its particular service area. Two years before the Great Blackout the line between the Sir Adam Beck Power Station at Niagara Falls and Toronto had been set at 375 megawatts. In the two years since that setting, the level of power demand in Canada had gone up but the relay had not been adjusted accordingly. On November 5th the demand for a split second bumped above that set level, the relay made contact, and the overloaded power line was taken out of the system. The power from that line was thrown over into four other northward lines...overloading them. Two seconds later, with the power lines to Canada shut down, all that power reversed itself and headed south and east toward New York City. It was rush hour.

In twelve minutes one of most densely populated areas in the world was plunged into darkness and chaos. Eight hundred thousand people were trapped in the subways. Two hundred fifty flights had to be diverted from JFK airport alone. Half the hospitals in the city had no backup power. Elevators stopped. Huge traffic jams clogged the city streets. Some parts of the region still had no power after twelve hours.

Corrections were made to the system to avoid such a mishap in the future, but the delicate balance of industrial society and its dependence on technology had been demonstrated beyond doubt. In the meantime, robbed of television, movies, and even streetlights, people turned to more civilized pursuits. There were reports that nine months to the day after the Great Blackout, the birthrate in New York City exploded. However, this was not true. As social scientist J. Richard Udry wrote, “It is evidently pleasing to many people to fantasize that when people are trapped by some immobilizing event which deprives them of their usual activities, most will turn to copulation.” But then of course most of those people haven't been married before.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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