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To: C.K. Houston who wrote (22807)11/10/1998 5:23:00 PM
From: John Mansfield  Respond to of 116762
 
'Whistle Blower Rpt on Y2kToday Forum re: Nukes
By Roleigh Martin @tc.umn.edu
Sunday
November 08, 1998
01:39 PM PST

I reposted this earlier, but it had UNIX or MAC linefeeds in the text and it looked horrible.
I went to the web to delete the original posting and am reposting it now. In the future, I'm
going to be more careful to make sure this does not happen again. Sorry. - Roleigh

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This was posted awhile back on the Y2k Today forum. I can not vouch for the truthfulness
of the statement, nevertheless the poster was brave, providing his name, the company's
name, etc. The shocker paragraph is this one:

"Another area to consider is a communique the NRC delivered to regional utility power
management companies regarding nuclear power plants. A contact in administration with
Savanna Power, a Southern Company utility, revealed to me info on a confidential
communique to utility power companies by the NRC. The NRC plans to shutdown all
nuclear power plants coast to coast for fear of the unknown regarding internal Y2K failures.
That means a 20% to
25% hit on the grid before any other failures. Add to that the restriction of offline backup
generation due to deregulation & you have a worrisome scenario."

-Roleigh

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y2ktoday.com

Re: Will we have power on Jan. 1, 2000 ? 1 response(s) Bob Andrews
9/17/98 1:51:38 PM PDT

Relating to ones own contingency plans regarding loss of utilities, it is always best to plan
for the worst & hope for the best. Unfortunately, getting your neighbors to do the same
makes them look at you like you=92re whacked out.

There are a few issues to consider regarding this question that I have not seen much
consideration for. First, deregulation - I have learned from a Georgia Power substation
engineer that where normally 15% of generation capacity is kept powered up but offline to
switch into the grid when brownouts, significant drops in cycles per second because of high
loads, occur to maintain grid stability. The state PSC normally allows a cost rate that factors
in the cost of offline power to maintain generation capacity. That offline capacity has been
severely cut back from
15% to 2-3% to provide new generation capacity to be sold at a very low wholesale rate
by third party companies that resell this capacity against the generating companies for a
profit. The US government is behind this effort as they are in suing Microsoft, attempting to
break up utility power monopolies using deregulation to startup smaller power cooperatives
to bring competition into the utilities industry. Where it may be a good idea conceptually,
the timing couldn=92t be any worse because of Y2K!

Another area to consider is a communique the NRC delivered to regional utility power
management companies regarding nuclear power plants. A contact in administration with
Savanna Power, a Southern Company utility, revealed to me info on a confidential
communique to utility power companies by the NRC. The NRC plans to shutdown all
nuclear power plants coast to coast for fear of the unknown regarding internal Y2K failures.
That means a 20% to
25% hit on the grid before any other failures. Add to that the restriction of offline backup
generation due to deregulation & you have a worrisome scenario.

The national power grid is broken up into three regional grids. The East Coast grid is the
largest interconnected power grid running from Texas to North Dakota to New England
states to Florida, one contiguous grid. If the some of the coop producers & other small
companies are not compliant, it doesn=92t matter how good the Southern Company &
other major producers do with Y2K efforts, the regional grids as a whole may suffer.

As Senator Bennett said himself, there is a 40% chance of a widespread grid failure, down
from 50% earlier. There is no longer any question of whether regional brownouts or
blackouts could occur; the question today is how bad & how long will it last. In a speech
made by Bennett to the National Press Club in August 1998 he stated that if 2000 were to
come tomorrow, western civilization as we know it would end! What we accomplish today
& tomorrow with Y2K repairs & other efforts will change that outcome. It is up to us today
to ensure that the worst won't happen.

I am afraid however that these other factors I have stated here may not be included in
Senator Bennett's predictions. I believe there is still alot of big decisions & additional
factors that are present now that we will not be privy to till 2000. The government is
obviously concerned about a panic & wants to take every step to avoid or at least delay
that panic. There is alot about Y2K that the government is not telling us. Just look at the
CIO web site & look up testimony by the GAO, especially by Joel Williamson. Previous
testimony by Joel revealed severe flaws within federal Y2K projects that his agency has
audited. Usually, it is grayed out or not allowed for public access, a big red flag for me!
Those in the know can tell you that for the most accurate info on federal Y2K progress,
read the GAO reports, if they are not censored!

I would like to see more of that panic now or today so that more companies & government
agencies can be motivated to act now, not wait & see. I'd like to see our president address
the nation & make it our #1 priority, course that today might have the opposite effect these
days.

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Category: Scenarios : The Electric Power Grid Moderator: Y2K Admin Re: Will we have
power on Jan. 1, 2000 ?
daniel mauerhofer
9/19/98 7:53:54 PM PDT

How do we know that the information is credible? Who is the author and what does he do
for work, ???? what it the persons interest.

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Re: Will we have power on Jan. 1, 2000 ?

Bob Andrews
9/24/98 8:01:49 PM PDT

I am a network engineer & a Y2K consultant for network systems & infrastructure plus
embedded systems. The material I referred to with deregulation or nuke shutdowns I got
from plant managers. Info of that nature needs to be verified, which may be difficult. The
info from NRC was never meant for the public ear so a URL will likely not be easy to find.
Deregulation however could be found under your state PSC site for regulation changes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roleigh Martin
ourworld.compuserve.com
( easy to remember alias is: webalias.com )
(A Web Site that focuses on Y2k threat to Utilities, Banks & more!) Subscribe to my email
list--visit this page at my web site: myegroup.htm



To: C.K. Houston who wrote (22807)11/10/1998 6:47:00 PM
From: Cheeky Kid  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 116762
 
For the benefit of people who are new to Y2K, you Y2K experts should explain a bit more than posting the word FAILED.

A computer that fails Y2K compliance in SOME cases just needs to be set manually. When you say FAIL, some people think the equipment is junked.

A fax machine that fails Y2K compliance, the only thing that failed was the header displayed 00. The fax still worked, the problem was so minor, most would not be bothered by it.