Have these been answered?greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
Two questions, (actually, it turned into three):1) Do nuclear reactors have embedded chip systems? (NERC keeps talking about computers being fixed, but I never see anything on the embedded arena.)
2. About a month ago I ran across an article on the Net, I think a report written by a nuclear engineer, who claimed that the reactors can be cooled down in 48 hours, not the 4-6 months that were being "rumoured" on the net. What is the straight poop on this? I think the nuclear reactor problems, especially in Russia and former Russian territories, is of paramount concern. I'd also like to know, does meltdown mean a big mushroom cloud that carries radioactive particles around the world on the jetstream? What a goofy world that I'm even asking questions like this. Thanks!!
-- Earthican (askaround@world.org), August 05, 1999
Paging Robert Cook....... Paging Robert Cook......You MUST have this boilerplated.
Go for it!
Chuck
-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), August 05, 1999.
Whatsat? Boilerplated? No know what thou knows.
-- Earthican (askaround@world.org), August 05, 1999.
A boilerplate is a brass plate, generally found on the side of heavy engineering kit (e.g. steam engines) with a serial no or manufacturer name.It is also a name for a standard template.
(This is the offical UK translation in case anyone wants to complain about two countries seperated by a common language
)
-- Rob Somerville (merville@globalnet.co.uk), August 05, 1999.
Robert is a PE that works with nuke plants. He'll probably pick this up later. He has, I believe, said that a plant can be cooled in a few shifts. I've got to crash, but it's in the archive a few times. Maybe one of the other regulars will dig it out. <:)=Woulnd't a search be nice...
-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 05, 1999.
Sorry folks, I missed out the [grin] which makes my last posting seem rather rude ....
-- Rob Somerville (merville@globalnet.co.uk), August 05, 1999.
See shakeys poting - http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=001Byo.Yes, there are embedded's in nuke plants ....
-- Rob Somerville (merville@globalnet.co.uk), August 05, 1999.
The suggested link takes wa back to this forum. Oh well, I got it that embedded chips abound around. Looking forward to more info from the informed source on the 48 hour shutdown, and mushrooming. Until later, sweet dreams of edible mushrooms. 'Morrow
-- Earthican (askaround@world.org), August 05, 1999.
Sorry - it's late, I'm tired and the link got truncated (methinks).
-- Rob Somerville (merville@globalnet.co.uk), August 05, 1999.
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001C1Wsnip
Jones cites the possibility of major power outages-citing the widely-reported story of a power plant that moved its dates forward to test Y2K and experienced a shutdown. It's a compelling story, one that's proven difficult to verify. The story seems to float around, with the power plant located "somewhere in Ohio," or "in Arizona" or "in the U.K." or even as far away as "in Australia." In fact, it appears that the power test outage story-like many Y2K cautionary yarns-is an urban legend. The mythical nature of the power outage story became clear when Y2K guru Peter DeJager penned an article for Scientific American. He raised the red flag about power outages but was unable to cite a single example of a power plant that had blacked out during a Y2K test. The closest event he could cite was an extensive outage in New Zealand that was caused not by a software problem, but by a severed cable. A strangely sensationalist story for a magazine that "demands extensive fact-checking for every article it publishes," according to the editor at Scientific American who worked on the DeJager piece. It appears that, despite all the hand-wringing, there never was much danger to the power grid. At the San Onofre nuclear power plant-an installation considered among the most complicated in the world -only 2,900 out of 190,000 devices (about 1.5 percent) used computer chips and only a "few hundred" needed replacement. And even if all the Y2K glitches aren't located, it's unlikely that any would cause a major power outage. As John Ballance, manager of power grid dispatch and operations for Southern California Edison told The Los Angeles Times: "The control systems don't care what date it is or what year it is; they are just there for logging purposes." The same article pointed out that less sophisticated power plants, such as those running fossil fuels, are at even less risk. This doesn't keep some self-proclaimed Y2K "experts" from spreading disinformation.
For example, the web site of author Steven Heller features his opinion that Y2K will mean "the end of Western civilization," citing as evidence data on the web site of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (www.nrc.org). However, rather than containing evidence that backs up his claim, the site contains a document dated April 1999, "Nuclear Power Plants on Track for Achieving Y2K Compliance," stating that the "NRC has no indication that Y2K computer-related problems exist with safety -related systems in nuclear power plants. Most commercial nuclear power plants have protection systems that do not rely on computer dates and hence, are not vulnerable to the Y2K 'bug.'" The article states that the audit did "identify problems with non-safety related, but important computer-based applications," but noted that work on these systems would be completed by the autumn of 1999. In other words, there is some bug fixing to be done, but the problem is less extensive and complicated that originally anticipated.
-- Cherri (sams@brigdoon.com), August 05, 1999.
Read Power Grid category, subject ( SPENT FUEL RODS: 5 MOUTHS TO COOL. Link: http://www.uilondon.org/nfc.htm
-- Les (yoyo@tolate.com), August 05, 1999.
Read Power Grid category, subject ( SPENT FUEL RODS: 5 MOUTHS TO COOL. Link: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cfm/3572 http://www.uilondon.org/nfc.htm
-- Les (yoyo@tolate.com), August 05, 1999.
So if 5 of us suck on one rod between us, they get cool quicker ?What if we use 6 mouths ?
{G}
W
-- W0lv3r1n3 (W0lv3r1n3@yahoo.com), August 05, 1999.
Two recent articles of general interest on this topic:"30 U.S. Nuclear Plants Still Need Y2K Fix - Agency"
and
"France disowns own diplomat on Ukraine Y2K risk"
-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 05, 1999.