U.S. says nuclear plant safety systems ready for Y2K

WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Computers controlling safety systems at all 103 U.S. nuclear plants are free of software bugs that could cause radiation leaks on Jan. 1, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday.

While all safety systems have passed testing, about one-third of U.S. nuclear plants still have some work to do on other computers that control power generation or administrative work, the NRC said.

"None of the remaining work affects the ability of a plant to shut down safely, if needed," the agency said in a statement.

U.S. electric utilities have rushed to retool computers to avoid possibe Year 2000 (Y2K) problems that may occur in older computer systems that use only two digits to represent the year. Experts fear many computers used by businesses worldwide could malfunction or crash on Jan. 1 if they misread the year as 1900 instead of 2000.

Federal regulators said the 35 nuclear plants with Y2K computer work remaining could be forced to shut down if they cannot prove by the end of September that all software modifications needed to keep the plants running smoothly will be ready by year-end.

"Typically, the remaining Y2K work to be completed after July 1 is because of a scheduled plant outage in the fall or the necessity to wait for delivery of a replacement component for a plant," the NRC added.

Among the plants with some Y2K work yet to do were Diablo Canyon in California; Oyster Creek in New Jersey; Salem in Wilmington; Comanche Peak in Texas; and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

The NRC report was based on Y2K preparedness reports filed on July 1 by all 103 U.S. utilities.

The agency said it is separately analyzing Y2K readiness data from its inspectors' visits to nuclear plants over the past three months. A report will be issued later this month based on that information, the agency said.

Utilities powered by coal or natural gas have also revamped computer systems to avoid any interruption in electricity at the beginning of the year. A utility industry group will give its latest Y2K readiness report to the U.S. Energy Department on July 29.

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Are these the reports that the NRC mailed out templates of for the utilities to mail back??

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 07, 1999

Answers

I believe the term is along the line of "ready with EXCEPTIONS", and those exceptions relate to safety, not generation since NRC does not regulate generation. NRC doesn't have the authority to shut down nuclear plants for inability to generate, only for safety reasons. So the newspaper has it wrong, the safety systems of the plants are NOT ready yet.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), July 07, 1999.

No, the statements are right.

From another article http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0013 KI

Sixty-eight of the nation's 103 operating reactors have completed all remediation -- encompassing safety, operating and site support systems -- and are Y2K ready.

The other 35 reactors have a total of 58 computer items left to remediate. Of the 35 reactors with remediation work remaining, none has outstanding items that affect plant safety. Only 21 are remediating plant operating or support systems, and the other 14 are remediating site support systems that do not affect plant operations.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), July 07, 1999.

One the one hand, we have:

"None of the remaining work affects the ability of a plant to shut down safely, if needed," the agency said in a statement.

But one the other hand we have:

Federal regulators said the 35 nuclear plants with Y2K computer work remaining could be forced to shut down if they cannot prove by the end of September that all software modifications needed to keep the plants running smoothly will be ready by year-end.

Hmmm. Does that mean smoothly is to safety as Y2K ready is to Y2K compliant?

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), July 07, 1999.