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. 99-168 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Friday, August 6, 1999)

NRC ESTABLISHES POLICY FOR REGULATORY ACTIONS FOR NUCLEAR POWER

PLANTS THAT ARE NOT “Y2K READY”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a policy to guide regulatory actions

for nuclear power plant licensees that did not report that their facilities were “Y2K ready” by July

1.

The new policy, which applies to those 35 plants that were not Y2K ready as of July 1,

provides for regulatory actions to be taken sufficiently in advance of the December 31 to

January 1 transition to assure that nuclear power plants will be in a stable, safe condition during

the Y2K rollover date.

Under the new policy, for those plants with a projected Y2K item completion date

between July 1 and September 30, (about 13 plants) the NRC will continue to monitor

licensees’ progress, verify completion of remaining Y2K-related activities, and document results

in NRC inspection reports.

The degree of additional NRC scrutiny for the remaining plants (about 22) will depend

on the nature of the work that needs to be completed to be Y2K-ready.

 Plants with non-safety, support systems and components that are not Y2K-ready or

plants that have incomplete contingency plans for these systems could require

additional meetings, audits, or requests for additional information. There are about 10

plants in this category.

• Plants with non-safety systems that affect power operation that are Y2K-ready or those

plants that have incomplete contingency plans for these systems will be subject to

additional regulatory actions which may include issuance of an order requiring specific

actions by the licensee. There are about 12 plants in this category.

By September 30, NRC will make a final determination whether additional regulatory

action is warranted to address Y2K readiness issues. At this time, NRC believes that all

licensees will be able to operate their plants safely during the transition from 1999 to 2000, and

that NRC-directed plant-specific action will not be needed.

All 103 operating nuclear power plants reported July 1 that their plant safety systems

were Y2K-ready and that there were no remaining Y2K-related problems that could directly

affect the performance of safety systems or the capability for safe shutdown of the reactor. In

addition, 68 of these plants reported they had completed, as the next order of priority, Y2Kreadiness work for all of their computer systems that support plant operation. The remaining 35
plants reported that, to be fully Y2K-ready, they still had additional work to complete on a few

non-safety computer systems or devices.

For about one half of the 35 plants, some work remains on systems needed for power

generation. Other plants must perform remediation on plant monitoring and administrative

systems. Typically, the remaining Y2K work will be completed during a scheduled plant outage

in the fall or delayed while awaiting the delivery of a replacement component. In each case, the

licensees with work remaining have provided satisfactory schedules for completing the work.

Current Status of Nuclear Power Plant Y2K Readiness

The plants that have Y2K work remaining are continuing to progress toward Y2K

readiness. As of August 1, five more plants have reported that they are Y2K-ready bringing the

total to 73 operating nuclear power plants that are fully Y2K-ready. This reduces to 30 the

number of plants that have remaining work on non-safety systems and components to be fully

Y2K-ready.

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.

Additional information on the policy can be found in a staff paper, SECY-99-162, on

NRC’s Y2K web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRC/NEWS/year2000.html.

#