Here is an e-mail I sent to Mr. Wily Diaz of APS, majority owner of Palo Verde, several weeks ago - I never got a response.

Hi, I have a couple of specific questions regarding your Y2K readiness;

First, concerning the back up generators at Palo Verde, how much fuel for those generators is actually on-site today? How long would it last in the event of a partial or complete failure of power from the grid? How much redundancy is there in that backup power generation system? In other words, are there backups for the backups? How long could the facility go without power from the grid, OR the backup generators? Would it be possible to safely shut down the reactor without power from the grid OR the backup generators? How long would a safe shut down take? I have heard 4 months, do you have four months worth of fuel to run the backup generators, on-site, today? Regarding the fossil fuel plants, how much fossil fuel is on-site, today? How long would it last? What is your contingency plan if the rail system is partially or completely disabled? How critical to continued operation is the telecommunication infrastructure? In other words, could the fossil fuel plants function without a dial tone? For how long? Regarding all other mission critical systems, does your plan include "Fix on Failure" as part of your readiness policy? If so, does that include the SCADA systems? What other systems are included in this policy, all of them? If not all, please identify the systems that will be "Fixed on Failure"

What is your status in reference to DATA EXCHANGES with vendors, government and customers?

Perhaps I missed these details on your site, if so please forgive my oversight and direct me to this information. Thank you in advance for your attention to these pressing issues,

Tim Castleman

NO RESPONSE FROM APS. Not even a happy face "it will be ok" I bet the lawyers have something to do with that...

-- Anonymous, August 09, 1999

Answers

Very good.

You flunked the test for y2k reporting though. Have you ever though about questioning clinton?

-- Anonymous, August 09, 1999