I had e-mailed a list of questions to the Y2K team at Ontario Hydro asking about various aspects of their Y2K programme. To my surprise I got a point by point answer to each of my questions: - - - 1) Could you tell me when your next status report is due to be released.The last one was on Dec 1st, 1998. You have been stating that all mission-critical systems will be remediated by 31 Dec 1998 - was this goal achieved? > Our status report of Jan. 1, 1999 indicated that 1856 of 1879 critical systems had been certified as Y2K-ready by year-end 1998. The other 23 are being worked on now and are scheduled to be certified before the end of February. 2) The NRC in the USA has said that any American nuclear power plants that cannot demonstrate Y2K readiness by 30 June 1999 will be shut down. Has the the nuclear regulator in Canada/Ontario taken a similar postion? >No. The AECB has stated they do not consider Y2K readiness a condition of licensing. They have asked for primary safety systems to be Y2K-ready by Oct 1, 1998 (Ont. Hydro met this target), and for secondary systems to be ready by end of 1998 (also met). Because safety and shutdown systems in nuclear plants are already in-service and Y2K-ready, plant shutdown is not a concern. 3) Is Ontario Hydro capable of "islanding" - i.e. cutting itself from the grid in the NE USA in the event that US utilities have severe Y2K problems? If so, is islanding part of your contingency plans? > Yes we are although we don't plan to do so unless absolutely necessary. Islanding is always an option but would only be used in very serious situations. 4) Will Hydro be asking its large industrial customers to be "off-line" during the 1999/2000 holiday weekend? >Absolutely not. We want everyone to use power in their normal manner. Anomalous use could create issues for our control centres, which might not recognize the reasons behind sudden drops. 5) Given that power had to be imported last year (due to a shortage of generating capacity), what plans does hydro have to ration/limit power if neighbouring utilities are unable to export power (due to their own Y2K problems)? >The same we always have. First, we buy power if it's available. Then we cut off customers with "interruptible" power contracts (discounted power which can be disconnected given a certain notice period.); then we institute a voltage reduction (3% or 5%), then we or the MEU's institute load-shedding options (chosen by the topology of the system and the physics of the problem); and so on. 6) Re - Embedded Systems: Do you anticipate any problems having orders for spare parts and replacement parts delivered in time, given that a large number of US utility companies will be ordering such parts in 1999? > No. Most of our embedded systems are already compliant. - - - Just as a side note, Ontario Hydro generates the large majority of its electricity from hydro and nuclear stations. This would seem to indicate that they are less vulnerable to the fossil-fuel supply chain issue.

Regards

Mike

-- Anonymous, February 10, 1999

Answers

"1856 of 1879 critical systems had been certified as Y2K-ready by year-end 1998" You might find this interesting based on this comment:

	1879 unfinished systems
-	1856 finished systems
	--------------------
	23 unfinished systems

These aren't just any systems. These systems are said to be "critical." Hmmm.... I wonder if Peter de Jager has taken this into account.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 1999

I would also like to check up on the certification authority and process that they used to "certify" their systems. This would remove a significan risk from my analysis if I could prove that the certification process is adaquate.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 1999

oops... sp: adequate

-- Anonymous, February 11, 1999