And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [note: some addresses are blind copied] Y2K Concerns Continue to Bug Utilities, Nuclear Plants http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep99/1999L-09-09-06.html WASHINGTON, DC, September 9, 1999 (ENS) - U.S. utilities survived the date changeover to 9/9/99, seen as a test of computer readiness for the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer bug , but Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says there are still eight major electric utility providers that are not yet Y2K ready. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says all U.S. nuclear power plants are now Y2K ready, but critics say serious safety problems remain. After extensive testing, utilities nationwide had considered it unlikely that their computer systems would mistake the string of nines in today’s date with a stop program command, as some computer experts had feared. Utilities used the occasion for a nationwide drill, coordinated by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), to test backup systems for the January 1, 2000 rollover. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson (Photo courtesy DOE) Utilities simulated electric outages to test communications under emergency circumstances, and iron out procedures for utilities and federal and state agencies to follow. Extra computer experts and safety staff were on hand at the 200 utilities participating in the drill, but no glitches occurred. But Richardson expressed concern yesterday about the number of electric utilities that are not Y2K ready, or have exceptions to their preparations. Eight major electric utility providers are not ready, or have limited exceptions, and an additional 16 municipal utilities and rural cooperatives have not reported their progress to the American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. There are about 3,000 utilities in North America. "With just over 100 days until the year 2000, those suppliers that haven't yet stepped up to the plate need to be especially aggressive to prepare for the rollover," Richardson said. "All power providers, regardless of their level of preparedness, must continue to test all their systems to ensure consumers that their lights will stay on into the next millennium." Chairman Gregory Nesbitt and president David Eppler of the Central Louisiana Electric Company, one of eight utilities that says it is not Y2K ready (Photo courtesy CLECO) A full list of all utilities with continued Y2K problems can be found at: http://home.doe.gov/news/releases99/seppr/pr99235.htm Richardson has directed the DOE to conduct an additional 20 reviews of randomly selected electric utilities over the coming months to augment audits of 36 such utilities already undertaken by the department. The DOE says the audits completed to date generally confirm the information received through the industry survey process. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it has confirmed through onsite reviews that there are no Y2K related problems which affect the performance of systems needed to safely shut down any of the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants. The results are outlined in a report, "Year 2000 Readiness in U.S. Nuclear Power Plants," that integrates the results of NRC's onsite reviews with utilities' July 1 reports of Y2K readiness. The report is available on NRC's Y2K website at: www.nrc.gov/NRC/NEWS/year2000.html. While all plants report Y2K readiness for safety systems used for shutdown, some plants are still completing Y2K readiness activities for systems not required to safely shut down the plants. The Comanche Peak Unit #1 nuclear plant in Texas is scheduled to be Y2K ready by November 30, 1999 (Photo courtesy NRC) Among the systems that may not be ready are those that provide backup power in case primary systems fail. Diesel generators provide backup at many power plants, yet these systems are notoriously unreliable. In addition, some fear that the seven day fuel supply required for the generators might not be sufficient in cases of significant computer breakdowns. "Nuclear reactors depend on another source of electricity to insure that vital monitoring and cooling systems operate," says Paul Gunter, director of the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) Nuclear Reactor Watch Dog Project. "These systems are essential, even if the reactor is off line." "Our research shows that back up diesel generators are not as reliable as people have a right to expect, given that Y2K failures may cause local and regional power outages," Gunter continues. "Diesel generators have mechanical failures, fuel problems, are prone to overheating, and in some cases, vulnerable to the Y2K bug itself!" NIRS, a coalition of nuclear energy and environmental activists, petitioned the NRC last December asking the agency to require that nuclear facilities have a 60 day fuel supply to provide backup power during the Y2K transition, and have alternate renewable means of backup power available. The NRC denied this petition saying current regulations require sufficient redundant backup power sources of onsite emergency power. The Joseph M. Farley Unit #2 nuclear plant in Alabama is not scheduled to be Y2K ready until December 16, 1999 (Photo courtesy NRC) "The NRC considers the current seven day fuel supply on site at nuclear power plants to be sufficient to handle operation of diesel generators in the event that offsite power is lost," responded the NRC. "As part of Y2K preparations, licensees are putting arrangements in place to replenish the fuel supply, if needed. However, Y2K problems are not expected to prolong the duration of a loss of offsite power for longer than that assumed in the licensee's normal emergency plans." The Citizens Nuclear Summit, a coalition of environmental and nuclear activist groups, has launched a World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) campaign, calling for all nuclear reactors to be taken offline on December 1, 1999, as a safety precaution. Reactors should not be restarted until after January 1, 2000, and each facility must show it meets Y2K compliance criteria with testing and verification before restart, the campaign asserts. WASH warns that systems used to cool pools of water used to store used reactor fuel have no backup power generators at all. WARN says these pools contain, on average, five times as much radiation as the reactor core and have no containment systems. If the water in these pools is not cooled, the fuel rods could boil the water off, causing a radioactive steam plume. The rods could even, potentially, reach critical meltdown temperatures if left uncooled for long enough. The reactors were originally designed thinking that the used fuel rods would be removed from the site and reprocessed. Hazards associated with that procedure caused the nuclear industry to abandon reprocessing, so most of the used fuel rods remain in cooling pools awaiting the opening of a permanent high level nuclear waste repository. Such a repository has been proposed for Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but safety questions have delayed approval of the storage site. © Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved. 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