Tuesday September 28, 7:11 pm Eastern Time U.S., Russia working on Y2K "hotline" glitches (adds congressional testimony, background)

By Jim Wolf

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The United States and Russia have found potential Year 2000 glitches in all but one of seven Cold War-era ``hotlines'' and are rushing to correct them, a top Pentagon official told Congress on Tuesday. ... Among other things, U.S. experts were urging plant operators to start diesel generators a day or two before New Year's eve to ensure adequate backup power for reactors if power grids failed, Baker said. ... PREVENTING ANOTHER CHERNOBYL

The ultimate goal, he said, was to prevent the highly remote danger of a meltdown like that at Ukraine's Chernobyl No. 4 reactor in 1986.

The U.S. government has deemed enhancing the safety of Soviet-era nuclear reactors ``a vital national security interest,'' he testified.

State Department officer John Beyrle said Russia, pinched for cash, may experience Y2K-related problems for ``months'' into 2000.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/990928/bes.html (full article)

-- Tom (Y2KOhno!@Yikes!.com), September 28, 1999

Answers

news.excite.com has a similar article which says that the pentagon just started the process to procure the equipment to fix their end of the hotlines. unbelievable. this must have been a low priority, obviously.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), September 28, 1999.

For some, the "three day bump in the road" will extend for months. Previous threads today told that as much as 47% of the Unkraine's power comes from the Nukes...so they are vital for the winter. Similarly, the Russian electric utility didn't have enough oil for the winter...

I hope that they have enough fuel for the generators...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 28, 1999.

Maybe Clinton and Yeltsin should get CB radios and run 10,000 watts each. Their handles would be "Cigar Man" and "Vodka Shooter".

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), September 28, 1999.

CLOSE! Actually, their handles would be "Straight shooter" for YELTSIN , since he downs it straight, and"Not-So_Straight Shooter" for CLINTONISTA, since he has been known to hit the occasional dress in error.

-- profit_of_doom (doom@helltopay.ca), September 28, 1999.

Love this comment about the Nuclear Hot lines: "He said the Pentagon had begun the process of procuring updated equipment for the six of seven hotlines found to have problems, "and while the schedule is tight we are confident that the fixes will be installed and tested by December."

Anyone involved in Military procurement has got to be ROFLMAO. They won't even have the specs drawn up before the year 2001. Duck and cover.

-- kozak (kozak@formerusaf.guv), September 29, 1999.

29 September 1999
Text: Energy's Baker on U.S. Y2K Aid to Russian Nuclear Plants

(No significantly increased risk of nuclear accident due to Y2K) (4,020)

http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/ latest/&f=99092904.wlt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

[snip]

The U.S. Department of Energy has concluded, Baker said, that "there is not a significantly increased risk of a nuclear accident due to a Y2K event."

However, "There are Y2K issues with other systems important to safety and normal plant operations that, if left uncorrected, could compromise nuclear safety," he added.

[snip]

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 30, 1999.