Gas, Electric Firms Said Y2k-Ready

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Gas, Electric Firms Said Y2k-Ready

Updated 3:55 PM ET December 16, 1999

By LARRY KNUTSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's gas and electric utilities are ready for the new year, having made the last of the corrections necessary to avoid the Y2K bug, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Thursday.

"The nation should be ready for the Y2K rollover" without widespread power outages, Richardson said. He offered this advice: "Stay cool, don't panic, plan as for a winter storm - and that's it."

Richardson and the executives of the American power industry said, however, that they are ready for any contingency and will have hundreds of thousands of workers in place or standing by when the clock hits midnight on Dec. 31.

Except for accidents and winter storms, they expect a normal, uneventful, stress-free New Year's Eve with no widespread loss of light or heat.

"We expect this to be a non-event," said John M. Derrick Jr., president and chief executive officer of Washington-based PEPCO, the Potomac Electric Power Co.

The millennium bug, or Y2K, stems from older computer coding that identified dates with the last two numbers only - "99" for 1999, for example. When the year switches to 2000, some computers with that coding will think it's 1900, causing them to malfunction or crash.

Over the last two years the federal government has led a nationwide crash prevention program to prepare for the changeover, spending billions of dollars in the effort.

Meanwhile, the United Nations-organized International Y2K Cooperation Center said Thursday that the world's more than 430 nuclear plants were ready for the new year. They "will operate as safely as they normally do," the report said.

The report cautioned, however, that some support systems in the world's nuclear plants are not Y2K-ready.

Those computers don't have a direct bearing on safety, but failures "can reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond to degraded equipment conditions," which ultimately could reduce safety and efficiency, the report said.

The report said potentially date-sensitive systems in modern nuclear plants can control plant operations, including initiating a reactor shutdown. But it added that, "nuclear plants have multiple layers of procedures and systems to enable safe operation or shutdown, even if primary systems fail to operate correctly."

There are nuclear plants in 31 countries, generating about 17 percent of the world's electricity. The first nuclear plant to experience the date rollover - at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 31 - will be in eastern Russia, followed by nuclear plants in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.

Richardson said it's a good idea to take normal precautions for a long winter weekend in which storms are possible over large regions of the country. He advised stocking a flashlight, a battery operated radio and a weekend's worth of food.

His final advice: "Do not listen to rumors."



-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 16, 1999

Answers

The report cautioned, however, that some support systems in the world's nuclear plants are not Y2K-ready.

Those computers don't have a direct bearing on safety, BUT failures "can reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond to degraded equipment conditions," .... WHICH ULTIMATELY COULD reduce safety and efficiency, the report said ...

His final advice: "Do not listen to rumors."

======================================================================

DUH. OK. We won't listen to rumors. We'll read YOUR report. What does it say?? Safety might be jeopradized ... because some support systems aren't Y2K ready? Is that what it says?

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), December 16, 1999.


Watch what they do, not what they say!

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 16, 1999.

"We expect this to be a non-event," said John M. Derrick Jr., president and chief executive officer of Washington-based PEPCO, the Potomac Electric Power Co.

As in...? "None" of ....electricity?

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), December 17, 1999.


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