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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rande Is who wrote (594)	12/11/1998 10:50:00 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

Group wants nuke plants shut if not Y2K compliant Interesting slant on our Y2k question... WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An environmental group has submitted a petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking that nuclear power plants be shut down if they cannot prove themselves free of Year 2000 computer bugs. Nuclear Information and Resource Service officials said if the nation's 104 commercial nuclear power plants are not properly tested and declared free of the Y2K threat, there could be ''severe safety and environmental problems'' caused by date-sensitive electronic systems failing when 2000 starts. ''The Y2K computer problem is greater than most people imagined even a year ago, and it is becoming clear that not every nuclear utility will be Y2K compliant in time for the millennium,'' said Michael Mariotte, NIRS executive director. The so-called Y2K problem has developed as a result of computer systems recognizing years by their last two digits, reading 1999 for example as ''99.'' When the new millennium begins, computers will misread the year 2000 for 1900, and if not corrected, could cause system-wide malfunctions. The first petition by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service would require the NRC to close by Dec. 1, 1999, any reactor that cannot prove, through full testing, that it is Y2K compliant. A second NIRS petition would mandate that nuclear utilities install additional backup power units to ensure steady supply of electricity to reactors. A third and last petition requires each utility to engage in a full-scale emergency response exercise during 1999 for testing plant personnel. ''The nuclear industry and the NRC are working diligently to resolve the Y2K problem, and we believe them. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the problem is so large that not every nuclear utility is likely to complete their work in time,'' Mariotte said. NIRS said the possibility of electrical grid instability and local and regional blackouts cannot be ruled out as a result of possible computer malfunctions. The group noted that few utilities have actually tested emergency plans to cope with potential difficulties. In a statement, the Nuclear Energy Institute said the industry had thus far found Y2K issues a challenge, but manageable. The industry group noted that systems needed to safely shut down nuclear plants respond to plant conditions and operator commands, not to date-driven data bases, prone to Y2K or millennium bugs. ''The NRC stated in 1997 that safety-related shutdown systems are not subject to the Year 2000 concern,'' according to the NEI statement. The environmentalist group asked the NRC to consider their petitions on an expedited basis, and allow outside verification of nuclear plant Y2K testing and compliance.