Programme Yarrow: UK’s Secret Contingency Plan-Trial for a Week-Long National Power Outage

 What would happen if the UK were to experience a week-long power outage across the entire political union? Will the government be able to function? What sectors will be disrupted? How much of a hit will the communication system take? The United Kingdom has been coming up with “reasonable worst-case scenarios” in case of a nationwide blackout, and it is stress testing its contingency plans against those scenarios. The blueprint of this contingency plan, named Programme Yarrow, is expected to provide a roadmap of possible actions to prevent, manage and come out of a probable nationwide blackout.

Programme Yarrow is the roadmap of the contingency plan charted out by the UK government to analyze how a possible week-long power outage would affect the country and how to manage its consequences.

Programme Yarrow has warned that a nationwide blackout would severely impact the lives of people and organizations across multiple sectors. From transport to food and water supply, from radio and tv to other energy-consuming industries- the blackout is going to impact these sectors more severely.

The program warns that in the worst-case scenario, digital radios would be useless, and only the analog ones would remain functional. Among the radio stations, only BBC 2 and 4 would be in operation.

After the sanctions imposed on Russia, the country has been slowly reducing its energy exports to Europe- partly because of the sanctions and partly as a geopolitical strategy. The matter got worse when Nord Stream 1 – the main pipeline that carries gas to Europe from Russia was sabotaged by unknown actors; Russian gas export had fallen by 89% compared to the previous year. Unfortunately for Europe, 40% of its energy needs were met by Russia. Now with this sudden halt in the flow of gas to Europe, the latter finds itself in a tricky situation.

Sure, there are other sources from where the EU can buy energy. However, it takes time to switch from one supplier country to another. On top of that, the energy crisis resulting from the war has resulted in dramatically high energy prices. Russian gas prices increased by almost 30% after the Nord Stream 1 sabotage. High energy prices are further adding to the woes of Europe....<<<Read More>>>....

British “war game” emergency plans: Government planning for prolonged outages of power and transportation, along with food shortages

It is pretty much a certainty that Great Britain faces a lights out scenario this winter, which is further evidenced by their “war game” emergency plans released by government ministers.

Official documents marked “sensitive” warn that food and water supplies, transportation and communication could all be disrupted for up to a week this winter in “a reasonable worst-case scenario” caused by a nationwide power outage.

Officials in Whitehall have begun stress-testing what was intended to be a secret protocol called Programme Yarrow. This involves prioritizing food, water and shelter procuration for the young and the elderly, as well as those who provide care to these and others considered vulnerable.

Programme Yarrow was already in the works prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so blaming that for what government officials are soon expecting in the United Kingdom is inaccurate.

Interestingly, though, there is mention in the pre-invasion Programme Yarrow plans about an attack on underwater power cables. This is eerily similar to the recent “sabotage” of the Nord Stream gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany.

We also know that the Met Office is expecting a colder-than-usual winter this year, which is expected to put added pressure on already scarce and expensive gas and electricity supplies.

Programme Yarrow mentions plans of three-hour rolling blackouts across the U.K. under such circumstances. Sixty percent of electricity demand will be met between day two and day seven of a potential one-week blackout scenario, the documents state, which is when households and businesses will be given “intermittent access” to rationed supplies. ...<<<Read More>>>...