I would like to balance the last 10 doomer posts with one sunshine post. Put your shades and sunscreen on doomers, it's bright where I come from ;)

June 23, 1999 News Release from Florida Power Corporation - CR3 Y2K Ready

Florida Power's Crystal River Nuclear Plant Achieves Y2K Readiness St. Petersburg, FL - June 23, 1999 -- Florida Power Corporation's Crystal River nuclear plant has achieved Y2K readiness ahead of the July 1 target date set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). A letter formally reporting the nuclear plant's readiness was mailed today to the NRC in response to the agency's request for a status report from all operating nuclear plants by July 1.

The Y2K team at Florida Power's Crystal River nuclear plant performed a review of the Y2K readiness of the unit with guidelines established by the nuclear industry. This included the systems and computer applications required to shut the plant down safely, as well as those required for safe and reliable plant operation beyond December 31.

"I always had confidence that the systematic approach the team developed would accomplish this significant task as scheduled," said John Paul Cowan, vice president of nuclear operations and chief nuclear officer for Florida Power. "I am very proud of our efforts in preparing the plant for this important event."

The nuclear Y2K team is an integral part of Florida Power's Y2K task force that is responsible for preparing all facets of Florida Power's operations for Year 2000. Florida Power anticipates meeting its June 30 readiness schedule and is presently working with vendors to complete the upgrades and testing of a few remaining systems and devices.

Florida Power began planning for Year 2000 in the mid-1990s with a comprehensive approach to address all phases of its operation - from how the company generates and delivers power to how it services customer accounts. The Information Technology Department has played an oversight role in leading the company's Y2K readiness efforts involving a team made up of individuals from across the company. The preparation review has involved a detailed and systematic evaluation, correction and testing of the computer hardware, software and micro-processor-based systems used in all facets of the company's operations.

In addition, Florida Progress, Florida Power's parent company, expects its diversified operations, led by Electric Fuels Corporation, to be prepared for all Y2K issues during the fourth quarter of this year.

Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., Florida Power Corporation is one of the country's leading investor-owned electric utilities. For 100 years, Florida Power has provided electric service in central and northern Florida, and today is the energy provider to approximately 1.3 million customers who live within the company's service area. Florida Power's dedication to growth through expanding customer relationships is reflected in three customer commitments: competitively priced energy, excellent reliability and outstanding customer service. Florida Power is the principal subsidiary of St. Petersburg-based Florida Progress Corporation (NYSE:FPC). *****************************

Regards,

-- Anonymous, June 23, 1999

Answers

That's great news FactFinder. But my eyes roll a little and find myself making a cynical sneer when I read such choice PR phrases such as:

"I am very proud of our efforts in _preparing_ the plant for this important _event_." "Preparing" not "having remediated", and "event" -- what "event"? ;-)

and

"The Information Technology Department has played an oversight role in leading the company's Y2K readiness efforts involving a team made up of individuals from across the company"

"played an oversight role" ?!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Ya gotta love press releases.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 1999

Best regards and sincere congratulations to Florida Power Corporation. Living within 60 miles of the plant and working for a company that owns a small portion of CR#3, I am pleased they have added to our Y2K portfolio as well as theirs. Great company,terrific employees, thanks guys! Thanks FactFinder!

-- Anonymous, June 23, 1999

Yeh, thanks FactFinder, keep em coming. Let's see that makes 4 nukes that are reporting ready, huh? Only 99 to go. And with roughly 20 weeks to go (can't wait till late Dec for the nukes) we should be seeing about 5 per week now reporting in "ready." So, every time you find another one, don't wait, just post a big notice. "Found another one ready today" or something like that. Whew, I'm on pins and needles. Waiting. Tap, tap, tap.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

Gordon:

What exactly is the difference between being "ready" and being "compliant". I understand what compliant means, but I'm a little fuzzy on what "ready" entails. When one says a plant is "ready" rather than "compliant", isn't that because one must leave room for a margin of error?

Can we have room for error in a nuclear power plant? (I realize that NO ONE can assure total compliancy.) To me having a margin for error by saying a nuclear facililty is "ready" rather than compliant is somewhat like saying one likely has a few cancer cells left, but we won't worry about those..... They could kill the patient, but they "probably" won't.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

I think the most interesting part of this press release was the following:

> Florida Power began planning for Year 2000 in the mid-1990s...

So, how does this affect plants that started planning for Y2K in mid-1998?

Jon

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

LindaO,

That's it exactly. You got it down perfect. When it was discovered that it wouldn't be possible to assure complete remediation or compliance, a new term was created, "Y2k Ready." And your analogy to cancer is perfect as well. Go to the head of the class. Actually, you are now ahead of some of our local "experts" who are still trying to pawn off ready as compliant. But they won't fool you anymore, will they? :-)

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

Wait a minute; don't I see the sentence, "Florida Power anticipates meeting its June 30 readiness schedule and is presently working with vendors to complete the upgrades and testing of a few remaining systems and devices."? In one article here we have "Yes, we're done" and "We're almost done". Seems like when I had my babies, delivering the infant's head was good progress, and almost done, but I certainly do remember that final push that actually finished the job! I continue to be skeptical of this happy-face announcement. Ann

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

I sure hope its true as we live downwind from this Nuclear plant. But, I too have reservations as there are under currents of things being not so rosey as FPL would have us believe. Nothing that I can substantiate or document..just employee rumors and no idea how valid. Just hope that plant is ready...not because of power but of dnger. I am for closing them all down and then bringing them on line one at a time after roll over. Same with chemical plants. Screw the economy, all the preparation (short of leaving for the southern hemisphere mtns) cannot prepare us for chemical and nuclear accidents.

A very shakey Taz

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

Certainly, it is wise to be cautious about the definitions of the words we use. The terms "Y2K Ready" and "Y2K Compliant" are defined in NEI/NUSMG 97-07, "Nuclear Utility Year 2000 Readiness" and would be applicable to a communication release from the Crystal River plant. From the aforementioned document, Y2K Compliant is defined as "Computer systems or applications that accurately process date/time data (including but not limited to, calculating, comparing, and sequencing) from, into and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the years 1999 and 2000, and leap-year calculations." Y2K Ready is defined as "A computer system or application that has been determined to be suitable for continues use into the year 2000 event though the computer system or application is not fully Y2K Compliant."

NEI/NUSMG 97-07 was published in October 1997, so it is not true that "Y2K Ready" was created upon discovery that it wouldn't be possible to assure complete remediation or compliance. Nor is the difference between compliant and ready a matter of leaving a margin for error. As an example, we have a number of recorders, manufactured by Yokogawa Corporation of America. (An American name dating back many centuries, no doubt.) Their function is to record data on a strip chart. They also have a date display, with 2 digit year format, and stamp the date on the strip chart at regular intervals. Some of these recorders, upon rollover to the year 2000, will continue to function but will display "0A" for the year instead of "00". We determined that they do not meet the definition of Y2K Compliant and classified them as Y2K Ready. We could have replaced all these models with newer, compliant versions, but, since there are a number of them, it would have cost a considerable amount of money to do so. The alternative, which costs a good deal less, is simply to reset the date on each recorder after the rollover. All that costs is a technician's time. There is no margin of error involved, simply a decision based on costs and benefits of alternatives.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999

Tom,

Thanks for that response. I appreciate the clarification on "y2k Ready". I had heard it before, but couldn't reference it on this site.

I am a hard sell when it comes to the nukes. I can see this definition could be totally reasonable when it comes to other applications, but "has been determined to be 'suitable' for continued use...even though the computer system or application is not fully y2k compliant" gives me pause when we are talking about nuclear plants.

I realize I may be straining at gnats, but our President can't define the term "is".....So how can I know what "suitable" means.

I won't go on and on. To me the entire thing is too weird for words.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999