United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 99-138 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Wednesday, July 7, 1999)

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS REPORT SAFETY SYSTEMS ARE Y2K READY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received reports from all 103 operating

nuclear power plants (units) indicating that there are no Y2K-related problems which directly

affect the performance of safety systems. Sixty-eight of these plants indicated that all of their

computer systems that support safe plant operation are “Y2K ready.”

The remaining 35 plants reported that they have additional work to complete on a few

non-safety computer systems or devices to be fully Y2K ready and provided their schedules for

completing the work. Of the 35 plants, about one third have remaining work involving systems

needed for power generation. Other plants have work that deals with plant monitoring and

administrative systems. None of the remaining work affects the ability of a plant to shut down

safely, if needed.

Typically, the remaining Y2K work to be completed after July 1 is because of a

scheduled plant outage in the fall or the necessity to wait for delivery of a replacement

component for a plant.

These plants have actions remaining to be completed to be fully Y2K ready:

Plant Name Location (Closest City) Y2K Ready Date

Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2; Shippingport, PA 9/30/99

Browns Ferry, Units 2 and 3 Athens, AL 10/31/99

Brunswick, Unit 1 Southport, NC 11/30/99

Clinton Clinton, IL 9/22/99

Comanche Peak, Unit 1 Glen Rose, TX 11/30/99

Comanche Peak, Unit 2 Glen Rose, TX 10/30/99

D.C. Cook, Units 1 and 2 Bridgman, MI 12/15/99

Davis-Besse Port Clinton, OH 8/1/99

Diablo Canyon, Units 1 and 2 San Luis Obispo, CA 10/31/99

Farley, Unit 2 Columbia, AL 12/16/99

Hope Creek Hancocks Bridge, NJ 10/29/99

Limerick, Unit 2 Limerick, PA 9/30/99

Monticello Monticello, MN 9/1/99

North Anna, Unit 2 Mineral, VA 10/29/99

Oyster Creek Toms River, NJ 9/30/99

Peach Bottom, Unit 2 Delta, PA

9/30/99

Peach Bottom, Unit 3 Delta, PA 10/31/99

Perry Perry, OH 8/1/99
Salem, Unit 1 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 11/6/99

Salem, Unit 2 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 10/29/99

Sequoyah, Units 1 and 2 Soddy-Daisy, TN 10/31/99

South Texas, Units 1 and 2 Bay City, TX 10/31/99

St. Lucie, Units 1 and 2 Fort Pierce, FL 7/15/99

Three Mile Island, Unit 1 Middletown, PA 10/21/99

Turkey Point, Units 3 and 4 Florida City, FL 7/15/99

Vermont Yankee Vernon, VT 10/31/99

Watts Bar Spring City, TN 10/31/99

Additional Y2K information on all operating nuclear power plants is available at NRC’s

Y2K web site at nrc.gov/NRC/NEWS/year2000.html.

The NRC has been working with its licensees to ensure that potential Y2K issues have

been identified and corrected. The NRC will continue to monitor progress at those plants which

have remaining items of work and will independently verify completion of these items, including

Y2K contingency plans -- procedures for dealing with unexpected events. All licensees are

expected to be Y2K ready and have contingency plans in place before December 31. If, by the

end of September, it appears that Y2K readiness activities will not be completed in advance of

the December 31-January 1 transition, NRC will take appropriate action, including the issuance

of shutdown orders, if warranted.

In addition to reviewing licensees’ responses, the NRC is reviewing the results of its

on-site Y2K reviews of all operating nuclear plants conducted over the past three months. By

mid-July, the NRC will complete a preliminary summary of these reviews and the July 1

responses from licensees. A final report will be issued by the end of July and posted to NRC’s

Y2K web site.

The "Year 2000" or Y2K problem refers to computers' potential inability to recognize

dates beginning with January 1, 2000, and beyond. It arises from computer programs that use

two-digit numbers to represent a calendar year (such as "98" for 1998). For example, computer

systems could read "00" as 1900, rather than 2000, potentially causing computer systems to

malfunction. “Y2K ready” means that functions provided by computer systems will be carried

out successfully with the coming of the Year 2000.

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