Hi All,

I've heard that the NRC is shutting down nuke plants, starting in July. Got this from WorldNetDaily. Any confirmation?

Also: Will DOE nuke facilities do the same thing? Like the Hanford reactor in Washington State? Any guide to where these non-NRC-regulated facilities are located? Do they even have to tell us if they're compliant, or if they're shutting down or not?

E.

-- E. Coli (nunayo@beeswax.com), February 11, 1999

Answers

Recommend that you go to:

www.euy2k.com

Currently, the NRC is receiving public comment on whether or not to mandate a shutdown. It is currently not set in stone either way from what is being reported.

-- James Chancellor (publicworks1@bluebonnet.net), February 11, 1999.

Even if true, they wouldn't admit any Y2K problem at this early date. Could wake the sleeping public. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 11, 1999.

When all is said and done, they won't do it. Shutting down the nukes would eliminate about 30% (or more) of the power on the East coast. Could be done if they are willing to massively curtail business and make air conditioning a crime! Fuggedaboutit, aint gonna happen. From what I can put together, electric generation isn't the main problem. Its the distribution.

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), February 11, 1999.

I have heard that the greens are quietly pushing this issue, but I can't recall the source.

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), February 11, 1999.

Thanks, All.

E.

-- E. Coli (nunayo@beeswax.com), February 11, 1999.

What has happened is that the NRC has recieved a petition from the 'Nuclear Information and Resource Center', which is apparently a fringe environmental group, to shut down the nuclear plants. This doesn't mean anything. These groups can be depended upon to seize on anything that might be an excuse to shut down the plants - plausible or not.

The NRC's contingency plan is at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/Y2 K/Y2KCP.html and it sounds as if they aren't even remotely considering a blanked shutdown.

-- Ned (entaylor@cloudnet.com), February 11, 1999.

True. I wrote about that emergency petition a few months back. Article at http://www.y2kculture.com/mccullagh/

-- Declan McCullagh (declan@y2kculture.com), February 11, 1999.

IMPORTANT:

The NRC has already processed a petition and is now taking requests for comment. Please see:

http://ruleforum.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/rulemake?source=SD_PETITION

This has a very short timeframe in which you have the ability to reply. The actual date proposed to shut down a nuclear power plant is December 1, 1999.

"Any and all facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under 10 CFR Parts 30, 40, 50 and 70 shall be closed by 12 PM Eastern Standard Time, December 1, 1999 unless and until each facility has a) fully and comprehensively examined all computer systems..."

-- Reporter (foo@foo.bar), February 12, 1999.