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From Maine to Moscow, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is aggressively pushing the energy sector at home and abroad to assure its readiness for the Year 2000 (Y2K) rollover. U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson today announced that utilities serving over 99.99 percent of America reported they are Y2K-ready according to the latest findings by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). He also announced that a team of the department’s nuclear energy and technology experts have monitored a second Russian Y2K electric distribution system drill and it went well.

“The Energy Department is aggressively working in partnership with industry to assure Americans that their lights will stay on past midnight on New Year’s Eve,” Secretary Richardson said. “At the same time, we realize that the Y2K rollover is a global challenge so we are actively working with our partners abroad.”

Domestic Readiness
Richardson said that NERC’s third quarter status report reflects substantial progress by the electric utility industry since its summer report. Even further progress has been made since the third quarter data reflected in the current NERC report was collected in October.

“As of today, utilities serving over 99.99 percent of consumers report that they are Y2K-ready,” Secretary Richardson said. “Today we are releasing the names of 13 municipal utilities, serving 1,937 customers, that still have not reported on their Y2K readiness status. By releasing names we’re hoping to apply pressure.”

Of the 296 bulk electric entities participating in the NERC survey, all are now categorized as Y2K-ready or Y2K-ready with limited exceptions. There are no bulk electric entities in the Not Ready category. In addition, substantial progress has been made with regard to local distribution systems. One hundred percent of investor-owned and cooperative distribution systems are reported as Y2K-ready. Also, municipal distribution utilities that serve more than 99.9 percent of all customers are also reported as Y2K-ready. None of the remaining utilities own transmission or generation facilities.

Only 13 municipal utilities serving 1,937 customers have yet to provide their readiness status to the American Public Power Association (APPA). The non-reporting utilities are: Electrical District No. 8 of Maricopa County (Phoenix, Ariz.); Tuolumne County Public Power Agency (Sonora, Calif.); Declo Municipal Electric Department (Declo, Idaho); Albion Light & Water Plant (Albion, Idaho); Seward Electric Department (Seward, Kansas); Radium Light Department (Radium, Kansas); Isabel City Electric Department (Isabel, Kansas); City of Herndon (Herndon, Kansas); Town of Whalan (Whalan, Minn.); Mansfield Municipal Light System (Mansfield, Mo.); Elk Creek Light & Water Department (Elk Creek, Neb.); Holbrook Municipal Light Plant (Holbrook, Neb.); and Custar Board of Public Affairs (Custar, Ohio).

In addition to NERC, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Public Power Association, the Edison Electric Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute have worked diligently with the Energy Department in tracking utilities’ readiness.

While the Department will continue to closely monitor progress towards resolving the remaining exception items, the major efforts from now through New Year’s Day will be to refine necessary contingency plans and monitor the transition.

In conjunction with DOE, the electric power industry conducted a comprehensive Y2K drill on September 8 and 9 to rehearse its plans and procedures for the December 31 rollover to January 1, 2000. In addition, both the Department of Energy and the electric power industry have prepared business continuity and ready-to-deploy contingency plans to further assure that Y2K does not impact the ability to continue providing reliable service into the new millennium. DOE has also arranged for independent audits to verify the accuracy of reports received from the industry. A DOE report on 36 audits already completed is consistent with the voluntary self-reported data from the industry. These audits can be found on the World Wide Web; the URL address is http://www.cio.doe.gov/energy_sector/electric.htm. A second report with 20 additional audits will be released soon by DOE.

International Readiness
At the invitation of the Russian government, Secretary Richardson sent observers to Moscow to observe a Russian Y2K electric distribution system drill on November 17 and 18, 1999. The drill, which tested communications systems went well. It involved eight of the nine Russian nuclear power plants and simulated the loss of offsite power at the Leningrad nuclear power plant.

“We are increasing our attention to helping countries like Russia, which rely heavily on nuclear power, to resolve their Y2K problems,” Secretary Richardson said. “We will be using our Emergency Operations Center to monitor, in real time, the actual Y2K transition in the United States and around the world. DOE’s center is directly linked to the Y2K Information Coordination Center established by President Clinton.”

This week’s drill was the second Y2K nuclear power plant drill in Russia that the Department of Energy has observed. The first drill, held on November 1, simulated a Y2K interruption at the Kursk nuclear power plant and reported no major problems.

The Energy Department has an ongoing nuclear power plant safety cooperation program aimed at helping the Russian government prevent another Chornobyl-like accident at Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors. The program is improving the safety of 65 operating Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors at 21 nuclear power plants in 9 countries. DOE has been working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to help resolve Y2K issues associated with these reactors. For the rollover, DOE will maintain open lines of communication with Russia between its Emergency Operations Center in Washington, D.C., and the newly established Situation and Crisis Center in Moscow - allowing experts to share information and up-to-the-minute reports and to ensure that assistance is provided on a rapid basis in the event of a Y2K-related emergency.

Countries possessing Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors are closely following the International Atomic Energy Agency guidance to assess their plants and electrical transmission and distribution facilities for Y2K problems. Initial results suggest that primary safety systems at these reactors should function normally. These systems, which are designed to shut reactor plants down automatically in an emergency, do not contain the type of digital computer systems that are susceptible to the “millennium bug.”

Other systems such as computers that monitor plant conditions, however, could potentially fail, and lead to a reactor shutdown leaving local populations without heat or electricity. DOE’s Y2K assistance efforts have been aimed at correcting deficiencies in these systems by providing Y2K compliant computers and software.

The November 17 and 18 Russian drill trained nuclear power plant and grid operators to mitigate accident consequences that might result from the Y2K rollover. The drill took place at a training center in St. Petersburg. Various accident scenarios were created that integrated Y2K-related interruptions in the electrical transmission and distribution network with difficulties that could occur at a nuclear power plant, such as the loss of a plant’s centralized monitoring system. According to regulations personnel must unload and shutdown the unit within 30 minutes of a power plant difficulty, which could result in an interruption of the electrical grid.

Nuclear experts from the Energy Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory observed the drill and provided comments to the Russian government.

The Russian nuclear power plants that participated in this drill included: Beloyarsk, Balakovo, Kursk, Smolensk, Novovoronezh, Kalinin, Leningrad, Kola and the Reftinsk Hydroelectric Plant. Sverdlovsk, Saratov, Kursk, Smolensk, Voronezh, Leningrad, and Kola power network dispatchers also participated in addition to Urals, Middle Volga, Center, and Middle West Unified dispatch offices.

Additional information about federal government Y2K-related efforts can also be found on the Internet at http:www.y2k.gov.

- DOE -

R-99-311