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NRC Rejects Y2K Compliance as Standard for 103 U.S. Nuclear Power Reactors

 

Nuclear Information & Resource Service
1424 16th St. NW Suite 404
Washington, DC 20036
phone: 202-328-0002
fax 202-462-2183
www.nirs.org nirsnet@nirs.org

August 25, 1999
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mary Olson 202-328-0002

U.S. Federal Regulator Rejects Y2K Compliance
as Standard for 103 U.S. Power Reactors

NRC Allows Potentially Untested Y2K "Fixes" in Nuclear Safety Related Systems
Will Rely on Chronically Unreliable Back-Up Power Systems
With only 7 Days Back-Up Fuel

NRC Will Not Require Industry-wide Year 2000 Drill

Relying on narrow and confusing definitions, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission has officially asserted its decision to exempt the nation's 103
large nuclear power reactors from a Y2K compliance standard. Y2K readiness
is the NRC's choice which allows for work-arounds and other short cuts.
Testing of systems to show Y2K readiness is suggested, but not required.
The agency goes further to assert that specific regulation for Y2K readiness
is also not required.

At the heart of this move is the definition of safety. Although NRC is by
law charged with providing "reasonable assurance of adequate public health
and safety," when talking about nuclear reactors, they use the word 'safety'
as a term of art. In this context NRC means specifically only the parts of
the reactor that stop the nuclear chain reaction and put the reactor on
stand-by. These systems are for the most part not
computerized.

"The problem is that both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are cases of
events that happened with the reactor on-line, not during shut down. Taking
TMI off line did not stop the nuclear fuel from melting. Some systems that
were installed in U.S. reactors after Three Mile Island to increase the
margin of safety have been shown to be susceptible to Y2K malfunctions,"
said Mary Olson, NIRS Nuclear Y2K Project Coordinator.

"Our petitions would have required that all systems "relevant to safety" be
assessed, remediated, and tested to show Y2K compliance. Aren't these
systems more important than an automated teller machine?"

These moves came via a mismanaged release of information over the past week
(August 17- 23). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially denied NIRS
petitions for the establishment of new regulations to specifically address
nuclear safety in the context of Y2K-related computer failures submitted
last December.

NRC also struck down any requirement for an industry-wide Y2K drill to build
worker and management readiness to cope with challenges which the
roll-over to 2000 might bring. A limited drill is being planned by NRC and a
handful of utilities.

"Perhaps most disturbing is the official rejection of our call to increase
back-up power reliability at the nation's nuclear sites. Nuclear reactors
depend on another source of electricity to insure that vital monitoring and
cooling systems operate. These systems are essential, even if the reactor is
off-line. Our research shows that back-up diesel generators are just not as
reliable as people have a right to expect, given that Y2K failures may cause
local and regional power outages," said Paul Gunter, Director of the NIRS
Nuclear Reactor Watch Dog Project. "Diesel generators have mechanical
failures, fuel problems, are prone to overheating, and in some cases,
vulnerable to the Y2K Bug itself!"

"John Koskinen, Head of the President's White House Council on Year 2000
Transition, has been telling state officials that they should assume an
electrical outage of three weeks duration as part of their contingency
planning. While Koskinen is not asserting that such an outage will occur,
shouldn't the nation's nuclear reactor operators also take this as the
baseline for their contingency planning?" Said Mary Olson, NIRS Nuclear Y2K
Project Coordinator.

"Loss of off-site power and loss of back-up power, also called Station
Blackout, is the single largest contributor of risk to reactor operation,
according to NRC. What makes January 1, 2000 unique is that every reactor
system in the country, and indeed, the world will be challenged on the same
day."

NRC's rejection of NIRS petition on back-up power states that only 7 day's
supply of diesel fuel is required to be at each reactor site.

An NRC press release announcing their action was posted prior to effective
notification of NIRS or publication in the Federal Register. Coincidence or
calculation timed this long-coming official rejection
during NIRS well-publicized Nuclear Free Great Lakes and Northeast Action
Camps when all NIRS Program staff were away.

Text of the original NIRS petitions is posted on http://www.nirs.org and the NRC
response is available at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=99-21750-filed
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=99-21751-filed
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=99-21752-filed.

Citizens living near nuclear power stations around the world are mobilizing
attention to these, forming the Y2K World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH)
Campaign. Leaders are reaching out to the 34 nations where the world's 433
nuclear power reactors operate. A Y2K WASH presence will be in Berlin during
the G-8 meeting on Y2K contingency planning on September 21. A forum
sponsored by Y2K WASH and the Nobel Prize winning International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War will address Y2K challenges to both
nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons systems.