"US CIA: Russia, Ukraine Vulnerable To Y2K; Others Cited WASHINGTON (AP)--Old Soviet-designed nuclear plants in Russia
and Ukraine are the most vulnerable to potential year-2000 computer
failures, particularly if combined with power losses, a CIA official
said Thursday.
These so-called Chernobyl-type reactors have "inherent design
problems," including lack of total containment systems, said Lawrence
Gershwin, the CIA's national intelligence officer for science
and technology.
"The chance of a nuclear incident in Russia, Ukraine or another
state with Soviet-designed reactors during the Y2K rollover is
low," Gerswhin told a congressional hearing.
"It is, however, higher than normal because of the likelihood
that the power grid could experience failures. ...In the worst
case, this could cause a meltdown and in some cases, an accompanying
release of radioactive fission gases causing localized contamination."
Still, Gershwin told the House International Relations Committee,
the chance of a mishap on the scale of the 1986 accident at Chernobyl
"is extremely low."
Gershwin said the CIA has determined that Russia, Ukraine,
China and Indonesia are the major countries most likely to experience
"significant Y2K-related failures."
Countries in Western Europe are better prepared, however Italy
is not as far along as other major European countries. The CIA
official said that Germany and Japan are making "great strides,"
but that both economic powers got a late start and risk some failures.
Outside the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, Singapore and
Hong Kong have the lowest chances of experiencing significant
problems, the CIA official said.
Gershwin told the panel that "we are highly confident that
Y2K failures will not lead to the inadvertent or unauthorized
launch of a ballistic missile by any country."
The committee is looking into potential disruptions abroad
caused by Y2K problems, and their impact on the millions of Americans
who are living or traveling overseas.
John O'Keefe, director of Y2K programs for the State Department,
said the agency had taken inventory of 23,000 items in U.S. embassies
and consulates in 164 nations to make sure they were all Y2K-compliant.
Each of these overseas posts are prepared to report to the
State Department at one hour past midnight local time on Jan.
1 to relay information on any potential problems, O'Keefe said.
Many countries are lagging in their efforts, and electric power
grids, telecommunications systems and the medical sector appear
the most vulnerable, O'Keefe said.
"If you have to rely on medical-electrical devices, you better
be careful where you travel to," the State Department official
said.
The State Department has country-specific information on potential
Y2K problems at its website travel.state.gov.
The Y2K problem is caused by computers that were programmed
to read only the last two digits of a year. That could cause them
to read the year 2000 as 1900, in some cases fouling up basic
operations. |
