I have a friend who works for Florida Power[FP]. I've been asking him if we will be recieving electricity after y2k. At first he wasn't sure, but then he was assigned to the 'Contingency Planning Committee' for y2k at FP. This committee is looking at the situation as if nothing will work. Being experienced in electrical failures due to hurricanes, he has an entire procedure which runs the plant manually. At these times they hire back fourfold the amount of people to accomplish this feat. They are able to select from a huge pool of individuals who had taken an early retirement from FP.

I was concerned about the national power grid, thinking when that goes down, then we wouldn't get electricity. But one of the contingency plans for FP is to disconnect from the grid. FP will get sued for this, but they would rather be faced with these lawsuits, than from lawsuits for not providing power to their customers.

This sounded good, but then I asked about the embedded systems. This is what my friend was concerned with most. Now, everyday that passes, they are testing them, and finding what they need to repair the embedded systems. The last time I spoke with my friend, he felt pretty good that FP should be okay when y2k comes.

FP is also ordering six months additional supply of coal to have on hand. FP is working closely with the telecommunications companies in regard to y2k as well. Please write me if you have comments on this-especially if you live in Florida, or vacation here. Are there any items that you can think of that I should ask my friend about FP? With the possibility of Florida having power along with it's warm winters, even more people from the north may be coming to visit.

-- alan mostert (alan@flasuncoast.net), December 15, 1998

Answers

I have just a couple of questions. First. It is my understanding that nuke plants can be shut down because of problems with the security systems. The example, which I can't find, posted on csy2k last year involved a nuke located in Nebraska. Flooding was happening and even though the plant was not physically in danger regulations still required plant shut down because the approaching highways were covered with water, creating conditions, which if the physical plant had an emergency, no vehicles would have been able to respond. Could someone address the security/alarm systems (fire, temperature, motion, door badge pass mechanisms, security guards), and environmental systems (drinking water,waste water, air conditioning, cafeteria, etc.), radiation dose badge processors.

Second. Last fall's mid-west extended power problems were supposedly caused by a tornado going right thru a nuke facility. While the plant itself was unharmed the high winds destroyed the transmission lines right at the plant, causing a shut down. The extended time problem had to do with the emergency generator not being connected to the pumps which circulate and cool the big pool of water in which the core material is stored (the pools that have the blue light coming from containers at the bottom of the water - I'm a real techie, I know. :-)

Regarding contingency planning. We regularly hear of diesel generators either failing to kick-in and/or insufficient fuel, not on nukes necessarily, but in general testing. Are there plans for housing and feeding workers if there is insufficient gasoline for their commute necessitating days, weeks, or perhaps months of onsite housing, and what about their families? What happens if workers just can't, won't, or don't show up due to bad y2k conditions prevent them from working, or they feel they must stay with family, or they just leave the area? What happens if some of these are in highly skilled critical jobs, what are contingency plans for their replacement personnel? Are there plans to force people to stay on site and continue working against their wishes? What plans does a facility have, if after an extended time in which workers had to remain on site and the food gives out? Does the facility have plans to transport the people to their place of choice? What if the worker had done a comendable job of preparation, yet his/her house had been ransacked, the plant releases the worker back home, and there is nothing left. What is the responsibility of the plant then?

I'm using abstract words here, worker and plant. But in real life many to most of these people will know each other, they might have plant ball games, picnics, game leagues, some might be neighbors. What are the plans and how are contingency plans enforced in a bad y2k situation which may not look at the time like it will get better? It will be person to person then. Finally, what are the contingency plans for an orderly shut down if a plant is abandonded by too many workers, some of whom will be essential to the plants operation and orderly shut down?

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), December 15, 1998.

Good responses from Florida - you can see how very complex and interwinded things get when somebody casually mentions "manual control" - it isn't simple, and definitely isn't "routine" operations. That's about right - you need 4 workers to manually run a plant usually automated with one.

Now, what about those northern plants whose older employees retired to Florida? At least in FL, they retired and stayed put.....

Second section. Good observation. Damage outside the nuke id obviously more likely since the containment and walls are built to withstand the high winds. But you can't really shield the "non-nuclear" power plant of the whole assembly. Damage "offsite" like that is one common reason for tripping the "nuke" since it shouldn't be kept running if no power is going "out".

Diesel gen failures? They (the big standby genset's) are treated as safety equipment by NRC, and the plant's get BIG penalties if they are out of service or fail to start when tested. Without knowing specifics, I'd be skeptical of generic "claims" like that. But, if you find any refernces or actual cases, let me know.

How long can you run on manual? Longer than people think possible when not in an emergency, but it is hard.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 15, 1998.

From what I've been told, the nuclear plant of Florida Power[FP] costs so much to run, it's almost not worth it. The plant has to be running at virtually 100% capacity to make money. If capacity goes below 80%, it loses money. That's because it has to meet so many government regulations, and takes so many people to run the plant, that using alternative fuels like coal and gas is cheaper. FP is bringing more plants on line which are providing lower cost power in place of the nuclear power plant. Yet, these additional plants are using gas as the fuel source, so these plants would be in jeopardy, should y2k problems stop the delivery of gas.

Mitchell, you brought up many good points. Since the FP nuclear plant most likely will be shut down, those employees would be used at the coal plants. Therefore many of the points you raised, shouldn't be of concern. But they could, so I'm going to share those with my friend. I doubt if FP considered any of those problems at this point. FP is now concerned with the ability of providing power. You brought up the extent of what the y2k problem could become.

Robert, you asked what the fate of the northern power plants would be. I would say not as good as FP, but very bad. The northern plants probably don't have the pool of retierees to choose from, to hire back, thereby running their plants manually would be more difficult, if not impossible. The weather is much colder up north, with snow making things more difficult. Also, if FP breaks off of the national grid, which is one of their contingency plans, that source of power is lost to share with the northern states. If the north doesn't get electricity, even if gas is deliverable, the furnaces won't work, because exhaust fans are needed to run the gas furnaces, I think[if I'm wrong on this, let me know]

I've brought the FP situation up to get feedback from all of you, because it's the first positive news on y2k for electricity I've ever recieved. We all know that electricity is the most important item to keep things going. With electricity, some type of telecommunications is possible. But then banking is expected to have problems too. Things here in Florida do look better for y2k. But if any of you think I'm being to optimistic, let me know. I plan on having my own contingency plan just in case. I figure if my electric utility has their own contingency plans, I should also.

-- Alan Mostert (alan@flasuncoast.net), December 16, 1998.