NUCLEAR Y2K SYMPOSIUM

Monday, March 8, 1999 - 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m
Canon Caucus Room (Room 345)
Canon House Office Building, Washington, DC

Co-sponsored by - Senator Tom Harkin - Representative Ed Markey -
Standing For Truth About Radiation (STAR) - British American Security Information Council (BASIC) - and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS).

"Probably one out of every 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 are on top of it. Everything is so interconnected, it's very hard to know with any precision that we have got it fixed."

-- John Hamre, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, October, 1998.

There is wide-ranging uncertainty about the degree to which nuclear power facilities and nuclear arsenals will be impacted by the erroneous information generated by computer systems at the turn of the year (the Y2K problem). The Nuclear Y2K Symposium will discuss potential and predicted computer problems involving both nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

It seeks to educate elected officials, the public and the media on the integrity of nuclear safety systems.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

Unconfirmed presentations are [bracketed]

MORNING SESSION (9:00 - 1:00)

- OVERVIEW OF Y2K AS A MANAGERIAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEM

Introduction: Helen Caldicott, President, STAR
Moderator: Representative Ed Markey
Speaker: Bill Ulrich (President, Political Strategy Group, Inc.)

- THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY: THE CONSEQUENCES OF COMPUTER-GENERATED FAILURES FOR SAFETY AND BACK-UP SYSTEMS

Speakers: David Lochbaum Union of Concerned Scientists
Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics, CUNY
Rick Cowles, President, CS America
Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information and Resource Service
[Presenter to be announced: Nuclear Regulatory Commission]
Panel: Michael Murphy: Nuclear Engineer, Pennsylvania Dept. of Enviro Protection
Judith Johnsrud, Director, Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power

LUNCH BREAK (1:00-2:00)

AFTERNOON SESSION (2:00 - 5:30)

- Y2K AND NUCLEAR ARSENALS: WEAPONS AND OPERATIONS

Moderator: Tom Harkin, U.S. Senate
Speakers:
Tom Harkin (Introductory Remarks)
Ted Taylor, Visiting Fellow, Princeton University Center, Energy and Enviro Studies
Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution
Michael Kraig, British American Security Information Council
Stephen Young, British American Security Information Council

[Presenter to be announced, Department of Defense]

- QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION PERIOD: 5:00-5:30

For More Information, Contact: Scott Cullen, Counsel
STAR (Standing for Truth About Radiation)
P.O. Box 4206, East Hampton, NY 11937
(516) 324-0655 - fax: 516 324-2203 - scott@noradiation.org