The nuclear age is nearly as old as the computer age. Nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, as well as nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, rely on computers. Nuclear reactors have the potential to malfunction in a variety of ways.
The average reactor in the U.S. has thousands of embedded chips in numerous computer systems. A NRC audit of the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire found twelve safety related systems and 800 other significant systems which were affected by the Y2K problem. Meltdown could occur if computers report incorrect data and reactor personnel act upon this misinformation. Both the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island reactor disasters occurred because of operators acting upon incorrect data.
External power failure could also cause meltdown of reactor cores or used fuel rods. Nuclear reactors require power from the grid to pass coolant through the core. Without power the core could begin to melt in approximately two hours. In cases of power failure, reactors rely on diesel generators to run the cooling systems. Unfortunately, these generators are reported to be 85% reliable. Given this percentage, and with two generators at each plant, we could expect 10-30 generator failures in the U.S., even if adequate fuel were available.
According to physician and nuclear activist Helen Caldicott, cooling pools full of radioactive fuel rods, removed from the reactor, remain thermally hot and require constant cooling for at least five years. These cooling pools have no back-up electricity and could also melt down if the power grid collapses.
There are potential Y2K problems with the world's thousands of nuclear weapons. Possible Y2K bugs in early-warning systems could combine with infrastructure failures or unforeseen embedded chip problems to lead to accidental nuclear missile launch and possible war. United States and Russian weapons, still pointed at each other, are on hair trigger alert (3-min. launch) even though the Cold War is over. U.S. and Russian early warning systems have given false alarms even when their computers were working properly. We cannot afford even the smallest chance of such an unprecedented global disaster. These weapon systems need to be de-alerted so that human action is required for a launch to occur. Currently, all other nuclear weapons states are in de-alert status. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre said, "Probably one out of five days I wake up in a cold sweat thinking [Y2K] is much bigger than we think, and then the other four days I think maybe we really are on top of it. Everything is so interconnected, it's hard to know with any precision whether we have got it fixed."
No one knows what will happen on or after January 1, 2000 or beyond that date because of the Y2K problem. The potential for human and ecological disasters is self-evident. We cannot afford to take risks that could prove catastrophic and irreversible. While some contingency plans have been initiated, the public needs documented evidence that they will be safe from such potential catastrophes.
A World Atomic Safety Holiday (WASH) has been called for by concerned organizations and citizens around the world. The MEC has signed on as a member group. Currently we have a petition in our office for people to sign.
Representatives from Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom and France attended a Y2K nuclear citizen's forum in Berlin this past September. Attendees developed and unanimously passed the following WASH declaration, and presented it at the G8 special conference on Y2K on September 20:
We therefore call upon all governments, the international nuclear industry, and all citizens to support a World Atomic Safety Holiday, and to work together to implement the following steps:
1. Take all nuclear weapons off "hair trigger alert" from 1 December1999 onwards, and remove all nuclear warheads from their delivery systems so that they cannot be launched immediately.
2. Shut down all nuclear installations by 1 December 1999, and not bring them back online after 1 January 2000, until they are tested, third party verified for Y2K compliance, and the electrical grid stability is re-established.
3. Provide reliable and redundant back-up systems, with adequate fuel supplies for worst case scenarios, in every nuclear installation by 1 December 1999, to ensure that critical nuclear facilities are stable and under control.
4. Ensure that contingency plans are in place in every community where a nuclear facility is located. To prepare for "worst case scenarios", we call on local governments in communities with nuclear installations to set up emergency procedures that inform and protect the public, and to assess the companies operating the nuclear facilities for the costs of these precautions. These procedures should include but not be limited to:
(a) Supplying iodine tablets and instructions for their use to every household, with storage in central areas for rapid distribution in emergencies.
(b) Conducting evacuation exercises on a regular basis, and regularly testing emergency services, such as hospital emergency rooms and fire department procedures.
5. Institute a worldwide moratorium on transport of all nuclear materials from 1 December 1999.
6. To collaborate, monitor, assess, and make recommendations about the unfolding global situation and provide for ongoing expert discussion and evaluation between G-8 appointed and independent Y2K-Nuclear Forum experts, to be disseminated through the Internet and printed media.
The challenge of meeting the Y2K problem offers the opportunity for all of us to face the reality of the nuclear dangers we live with every day. Y2K shows us that our control over technology is limited and accidents can happen; governments need to be mindful of the ever-present threat of nuclear accidents in the future, as long as nuclear weapons and nuclear energy continue to exist. Together in the next days and weeks, we can take steps to create a safer world, provide for our common security and minimize the risk of nuclear catastrophe.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1999
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited