forwarded to me by one of my students ...
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>04:13 PM ET 06/11/98
>Year 2000 bug seen as huge challenge to power grid
>
> By James Jelter
> NEW YORK (Reuters) - All the talk of coaxing computers to
>clear the Millennium hurdle assumes there will still be
>electricity to run them. Perhaps not.
> A Senate hearing Friday led by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah)
>will listen to a panel of experts explain why the vast North
>American power grid is also vulnerable to the Year 2000 bug and
>whether pending computer malfunctions can be overcome.
> On this point, the experts vary. Some warn of widespread
>outages when the clock strikes midnight, January 1, 2000,
>confounding computer chips unable to decifer the date.
> Others claim steps now being taken by electric utilities,
>which amass sales of $230 billion a year, will ensure only minor
>problems, many of which can be manually overridden.
> But all agree the problem is vast, costly, and that efforts
>to correct it carry no absolute guarantees.
> At risk are about 6,000 power plants, half a million miles
>of high-voltage power lines and about 112,000 substations, most
>of which depend on built-in, preprogrammed microprocessors
>called ``embedded systems.''
> ``When you consider the number of chips that need changing,
>outages are almost a certainty,'' said Andrew Pegalis, head of
>Next Millennium Consulting in Bethesda, Md.
> ``Embedded systems require a monumental effort. They first
>must be located, they must then be tested, and some of the
>manufacturers of these chips have gone out of business, which
>means you often don't know how they were programmed,'' he said.
> Industry analysts predict the tedious task, including
>replacement chips, will cost most power companies between $10
>million and $100 million.
)))CHOMP(((
go to the web site for the remainder ....
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Kathy E. Gill, Guide - http://agriculture.miningco.com/
Publisher, eNetDigest - http://www.enetdigest.com/
WWW design � writing � training - http://www.dotparagon.com/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi
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