January/February 2000 - Highlight

Armenia - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Hungary

- Kazakhstan - Lithuania - Russia - Slovakia

- Ukraine - United States - Cross-Cutting Activities - Planned Activities

Czech Republic

Czech Emergency Response Center and Dukovany NPP provide Y2K-related update

The U.S. Department of Energy provided Y2K assistance to the Czech Republic's State Office for Nuclear Safety by funding purchase of a computer system for its Emergency Response Center. The previous system was not Y2K-compliant and was sufficiently outdated that it could not be upgraded. Effective support from the United States on customs documentation allowed the rapid delivery of the system, which was installed in December, in time for the date rollover.

During a February tour, U.S. representatives observed how data collection, analysis, and display of the information with the new system takes less than 5 minutes. With the old system, the process took 30 minutes. U.S. representatives also were provided a tour of Dukovany NPP's Emergency Preparedness Center. Plant staff noted that a U.S.-supported workshop had helped them with their Y2K preparations. The plant identified 9 items that had to be remediated, 60 that were very important, and 80 that were important. (Rich Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Tye Blackburn, PNNL, 509-372-4092)