Senate Panel Seeks Y2K Nuke Plant Contingency Plans

Updated 5:35 PM ET November 12, 1999

By Patrick Connole

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A special Senate committee overseeing Year 2000 preparedness released a letter on Friday which asks nuclear regulators to provide better information on reactor safety and contingency plans before the new year.

The letter, provided to Reuters by staff of Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, says the panel was encouraged by statements from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on plant safety, but still had unanswered questions.

"The committee continues to believe that the electrical grid will be stable and that disruptions from Y2K will be minimal, We are concerned, however, about the lack of public confidence in the nuclear industry's efforts and specific post Dec. 31, 1999, operating regimes," said the letter, from Bennett to NRC Chairman Greta Joy Dicus.

Y2K refers to the potential problem associated with computers reading the year 2000 as 1900, caused by systems built to read only the last two digits of a given year.

Governments and industry worldwide have worked to correct date sensitive computers to avoid possible malfunctions and system shutdowns when the new year kicks in on Jan. 1, 2000.

The committee letter, which is dated Nov. 1, asked that the NRC answer the following questions by Monday:

+ Provide a list of nuclear power plants and how their mission-critical systems were validated as Y2K-ready.

+ Provide detailed information about voluntary pledges by industry representatives to maintain a 30-45 day supply of emergency diesel generator fuel, and other measures to reduce the risk of plant failure

. + Give a description of the process by which NRC will make a final determination as to which plants, if any, will be shut down over safety concerns during the year 2000 rollover.

+ List the minimal safety standards that will be acceptable under the proposed suspension of technical regulations.

Earlier this week, the NRC and the nuclear industry announced that all 103 operating U.S. nuclear power plants were fully ready for the Y2K rollover, and pose no safety threat from possible computer glitches.

In July, NRC said all commercial reactors were cleared for safety-related Y2K problems.

A spokesman for the industry trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, said nuclear plants were ready for Y2K.

"The plants have been fully remediated (for any safety related problems) for many months," the NEI spokesman said.

Anti-nuclear advocates have scoffed at the 100 percent safe pronouncements, noting a General Accounting Office report in October which doubted the independence of Y2K verification programs for nuclear power plants.

"With only seven weeks until the Y2K rollover the nuclear industry has yet to satisfy the Senate's, the GAO's and the public's fundamental concerns regarding potential devastating mishaps which could even lead to multiple meltdowns after New Year's," according to the World Atomic Safe Holiday organization in Bolinas, Calif.

Bennett's letter, co-signed by the vice-chairman of the special panel, Connecticut Democrat Sen. Christopher Dodd, said the committee simply wants "lingering questions" answered.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 12, 1999