ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook January 23, 1998 Volume 3, No. 3 Published by the Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, VA Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org

ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is sponsored in part by BDM International, Inc., CAI International Inc., DMR Consulting Group Inc., IBS Conversions, Inc., Softworks, Inc. and Y2Kplus, Inc.

Analog Spells Y2K Safety for Nuclear Energy Industry Will the century rollover trip the nuclear energy industry?

Not according to industry experts, at least not where public health and safety are concerned. Think of it as the power of old tech. The analog antidote. Nuclear power generators supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity, but construction on a new plant has not started in the U.S. in over 20 years. With Three Mile Island looming in its background, this is a naturally cautious, conservative industry. When it comes to plant safety and control systems--the nerve endings of a nuclear reactor--industry insiders say digital technology has barely made a dent.

Nuclear power in a nutshell works like this: as neutrons in a nuclear reactor decay, they give off heat. This heat is transferred to water. The heat boils the water to make steam, which in turn drives electricity-generating turbines. Analog sensors in numerous points along the way gauge this process. Sensors measure whether systems are operating within preset safety parameters. These sensors pass signals via hard wire, through a logic and processing system, to an activation device. If a set point is exceeded, activation devices can respond with a series of actions, from raising or lowering water temperature to shutting down the reactor entirely. Sensors are deployed in a series of logic ladders, requiring multiple error conditions to be detected before an action is taken. This sensible precaution helps assure that a faulty dial or gauge doesn't knock an entire plant off-line.

When it comes to the particular question of core safety, dates don't make a major difference. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), federal watchdog for nuclear safety issues, appears to be reassured by the nuclear industry's analog antecedents. Jared Wermiel, Chief, Instrumentation and Controls Branch, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the NRC, says that his agency has a level of assurance that plant safety instrument and control panels are not susceptible to the date dilemma. These devices, he suggests, are not computer driven, don't use data bases and don't have date driven functions. More than 90 percent of safety related systems in nuclear plants are analog, he says.

That doesn't mean the nuclear power industry is being given a free pass to the Millennium party. The nuclear reactor on/off switch may not be digital, but plenty of other important plant systems may be, including security, surveillance, testing, emergency management and event reporting. All of which come under the NRC purview. So the agency is in the process of issuing a letter to its licensees, asking companies to confirm that they have a program in place addressing the Y2K problem and to certify that their facilities will be Y2K ready by July 1999. The letter will be published in the Federal Register on or about February 1, 1998, followed by a 60 day period for public comment.

Wermiel says the letter will not be necessary if the nuclear industry can convince the NRC of its Y2K preparedness-a move he thinks is unlikely. "They would have done so already," Wermiel claims, adding that now it is time for the NRC to take the initiative.

Last May, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a critical report on nuclear regulation, finding that the NRC has a "culture of tolerating problems" at power plants. While not specifically Y2K-related, the report raises questions about the agency's ability to cope with conflict. "For some plants," it notes, "NRC has not taken aggressive enforcement action to force the licensees to fix their long-standing safety problems on a timely basis. As a result, the plants' conditions have worsened, making safety margins smaller." Even in cases where action was taken, the GAO found that "NRC forced the licensees to correct their problems only after the licensees voluntarily shut down plants."

If and when the Y2K compliance letter is officially issued, Wermiel says companies claiming compliance and found wanting by NRC auditors will face regulatory action.

None of which is to suggest that the nuclear power industry is necessarily asleep at the switch when it comes to the Year 2000. On the contrary, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Nuclear Utilities Software Management Group (NUSMG) teamed up last fall to issue a Y2K strategy document for the industry called Nuclear Utility Year 2000 Readiness. Wermiel calls it "a fairly effective programcovering everything a licensee needs to be concerned about." The federal regulator wants to see a Y2K plan at least as good as the NEI/NUSMG approach in place at every nuclear power facility.

How difficult it will be to implement those plans remains to be seen. NEI Director of Operations Jim Davis compares the century rollover to the exercise nuclear power plants must run through for conversion to Daylight Savings Time. "Not a big deal," he says, adding that the twice-yearly time switch is a routine with which professionals in his industry have learned to cope. Y2K is just bigger.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 1998