Russia’s Unified Energy Systems (UES) is planning to spend $15 million to replace more than 15 000 separate computer systems in the run up to the year 2000, according to deputy director Alexander Remizov. A total of 50 000 systems are to be checked, with 40% of that total already complete.
“The machine is wound up and running” Remizov reassured reporters, “no catastrophes yet.” Russia is less dependent on computers than many other industrialised countries, but it still is vulnerable to the Y2K bug. Remizov admitted that most likely sources of problems would be automatic temperature and pressure regulators used to monitor generating equipment, automatic distribution systems, and communications between power plants.
Remizov said that a special communication system is being built to ensure that UES’s Moscow headquarters will be able to send and receive information to its regional electricity enterprises during the changeover.
He also said that UES is working to coordinate its efforts to prepare for the next new year, with Russia’s nuclear energy and fossil fuel industries.
