Free PR - 'Y2K causes nuclear concerns
Ismo Savolainen, Timo Tolsa and Jeanette Borzo
Paris
As it executives and government officials worldwide rush to prepare their nations' systems for the year 2000,
some are working double duty by examining the year 2000 readiness at organizations outside their national
borders. Finland, for example, is trying to confirm that two Russian nuclear power plants near its border will
pass the year 2000 test.
Finland's Sateilyturvakeskus -- an organization that reports to a government ministry and cooperates with the
Ministry of Trade and Industry on nuclear issues -- has asked Russian authorities for safety information
concerning nuclear plants on the Peninsula of Kola and in Sosnovyi Bor.
Sateilyturvakeskus isn't terribly worried, because Russia built the plants when the country had no access to
Western automation or computer technology and therefore relied heavily on analog technology. The plants'
analog devices won't cause any year 2000 failures, but whatever computers the Russians do use might
recognize the year 2000 as the year 1900.
A Russian nuclear disaster could quickly become a problem for other countries. A nuclear disaster in Sosnovyi
Bor could bring nuclear fallout to southeastern Finland and the city of Helsinki in just a few hours, given proper
wind conditions. A disaster at the four-reactor plant on Russia's Kola Peninsula could (again with suitable
winds) bring a nuclear danger to Lapland, northern Sweden and Norway, sources said.
Heikki Reponen, a Sateilyturvakeskus official, has received some information about the plants from Russia but
found the material lacking details. He said he is still waiting for further information about plant safety. The
Russian authorities, for their part, have said the plants will have no year 2000 problems, Reponen said.
The two-reactor Loviisa plant, built in the early 1970s, was based on Russian technology topped off with
Western expertise. The Olkiluoto plant, built during the same decade, also has two reactors but is based on
Swedish technology.
The companies running the plants said they expect no trouble but are still checking and testing systems
thoroughly. They said they expect the plants won't need to shut down because of year 2000 problems.
Russia and Finland aren't the only countries considering the impact of 2000 on their nuclear plants. Already in
the U.S., federal officials this year said electric utilities probably won't be entirely ready to supply power to the
nation's businesses and homes on Jan. 1, 2000. Some U.S. nuclear plants could be forced to shut down before
Jan. 1, 2000, officials said in May.
According to Richard Cowles, year 2000 analyst at TAVA/R.W. Beck LLC, an electric-utility industry consulting
firm in Penns Grove, N.J., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to shut down more than 10% of U.S.
nuclear plants after July 1999 because their systems won't be ready to handle the date rollover to 2000.
Savolainen, Tolsa and Borzo are journalists affiliated with sister companies to Computerworld in Paris and
Finland.
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