"The threat of another disaster — which could mirror scenes in Hollywood blockbuster 2012 — is so great that Defence Secretary Liam Fox called an emergency conference in London yesterday.
Dr Fox told experts that incalcul-able damage would be caused if an explosion similar to the one in 1859 occurred in modern times. He called on scientists to build a strategy against the impending disaster.
The talks, organised by the Electric Infrastructure Security Council, heard that the Sun will reach a critical stage of its cycle in 2013.
A surge of magnetic energy in its atmosphere is likely to trigger radiation storms which cause massive power surges.
Such a phenomenon occurs only once about every 100 years.
The last big flare, in 1859, smothered two thirds of the Earth’s skies in a blood-red aurora. Such scenes could occur again, causing cloud storms in major modern cities such as London, Paris and New York.
In 1989, a more common smaller solar flare took out power stations in Quebec, Canada."
| 