comp.software.year-2000 Y2K-CHEMICALS
Y2K-CHEMICALS by Stephen Singer
Charleston, West Virginia, Sept 30 Sapa-AP
CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS TO HALT SOME PROCESSING AT NEW YEAR'S
Some major chemical manufacturers plan to suspend operations on New
Year's Eve as a precaution against toxic accidents and production foul-ups caused by Y2K computer trouble.
Rhone-Poulenc, DuPont, Monsanto and Ashland Chemical all said they will idle some North American plant operations when the calendar turns from 1999 to 2000.
"We feel secure that we're Y2K-compliant, but we made a decision that
where prudent, we will not produce," said Tom Dover, support manager at the Institute, West Virginia, plant where Rhone-Poulenc produces methyl isocyanate _ the chemical that leaked from a pesticide plant at Bhopal, India, in 1984 and killed 3,000 people.
He added: "We're not going to operate those processes that have some
of our highly hazardous materials in them."
For the same reason, Rhone-Poulenc is also planning to eliminate its
stockpiles of methyl isocyanate before the end of the year, Dover said. Some experts fear with the arrival of 2000, older computers that read only the last two digits of a year might mistake the year for 1900, causing shutdowns and malfunctions.
The chemical companies want to avoid not only accidents but also ruined batches of chemicals if computers shut down or if power and other utilities are interrupted.
The New Year's Eve shutdowns go beyond the way many companies often
suspend operations over holiday weekends. Many chemical companies
normally run at least some of their plants around the clock every day
of the year.
Certain chemical processing operations at Ashland's 15 U.S. plants will not operate from Friday night until Monday morning "to take extra
precautions," spokesman Jim Vitak said.
Monsanto will halt production for about eight hours before and after
midnight on Dec. 31, said John Ogens, director of the company's Global
Year 2000 Project. Paul Couvillion, global director for DuPont's Year 2000 Project, said managers at each of the company's 321 production units worldwide will decide whether to idle all or portions of the plants.
Sean Clancy, spokesman for Union Carbide Corp. in Danbury, Connecticut, said the manufacturer does not expect shutdowns at any of its seven plants in the United States.
Union Carbide built the pesticide plant at Bhopal, and paid a dlrs 470
million settlement in 1989 for the accident.
Sapa-AP
/jb
^C10/01/99 00-10 29
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