If the NRC feels that such problems may affect the off-site power grid to which a nuclear plant is connected, it is likely to order the plant shut down until all concern regarding the stability of the power grid has been resolved. To minimize legal exposure, utilities must take a number of steps to communicate an honest appraisal of the status of their year 2000 readiness. However, contrary to Yourdon's suggestion, a year 2000 bug is not likely to cause people's electricity to be turned off for non-payment. Their MBA's may instead decide that it is more cost effective to temporarily make a planned shut-down at the turn of the century and restart the systems after they have leisurely tested and fixed their systems. Corporate Y2K Contingency Planning Among professionals working on the year 2000 problem, there does not appear to be much optimism that their mission-critical systems will be ready for the year 2000.
Contingency planning is necessary.
Rick argues that there are not. The need for training simulators is discussed in a white paper by Dick Mills, which is included in this book. Emergency waivers may be necessary to keep the lights on, although hard-core environmentalists will likely scream that it is far better to freeze to death in the dark than to allow a temporary increase in air pollution. Various problems have already come to light, including software which was year 2000 compliant running on hardware which wasn't, and control system algorithms which depend on integration over time that fail when the control interval spans midnight of January 1, 2000. Power plants will have to be taken off-line top do year 2000 testing, and this will reduce available online capacity before the year 2000.