uncontrolled null field

The first Gateway test had yielded other effects, as well. It generated an electrical nullification field—one of the “side effects” that irritated Prospero—that was far more powerful than anticipated. It was so strong that it blanked out power on half the continent. The Russian and Chinese research stations had gone dark for an hour and when they came back online there was a massive exchange of furious communication with Moscow and Beijing.

-Kill Switch pg. 185, Kindle Edition.