By Stephen Barr, Tuesday, September 7, 1999; Page A17
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-09/07/047l-090799-idx.html

For months, federal officials have avoided identifying foreign nations lagging on year 2000 computer repairs. But the State Department plans to issue "information country sheets" on international Y2K progress next week, the first in a series of reports on the computer glitch and what it could mean for travel, health, crime and public safety conditions abroad.

Since July, U.S. embassies have worked to collect data from countries perceived as lagging on Y2K fixes. Diplomats have urged these nations to take action or draw up emergency plans for computer operations that might be at risk.

The international arena has been an increasing concern for Y2K specialists since intelligence and State Department officials testified about potential problems before House and Senate committees earlier this year. Besides concerns about national security, public safety and general conditions abroad, there also are worries that widespread computer difficulties in other countries could affect economic sectors in the United States.

According to several private sector surveys, while the U.S. banking and financial services industries have fixed virtually all of their Y2K problems, parts of Asia and Latin America lag on computer repairs in their financial sector.

One area that continues to receive low marks on Y2K preparedness here and abroad is the health care industry. In the United States, large hospitals and pharmaceutical companies have fixed their systems, but federal officials worry that smaller health care providers, including doctors, risk cash-flow woes if their financial management systems are not updated.

Last month's survey of foreign nations by the International Y2K Cooperation Center, a United Nations-backed clearinghouse financed by the World Bank, showed that Eastern Europe and South America reported the latest average completion dates for Y2K fixes. Sub-Saharan Africa reported the least dependence on technology in its critical economic sectors.

The center said 76 nations responded to the survey, with 33 countries, for the first time, providing information on the World Wide Web in English. Another 56 nations shared information with the center but did not make it available for release to the public.

In general, officials said they would like to see more data from a number of countries, including China, Egypt, Haiti, Italy, Nigeria, Panama, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela.

"Without good Y2K information available to stakeholders, people will assume the worst," said Bruce McConnell, the center's director. "Working on it isn't good enough anymore. You have to be able to explain where you are."

The survey data can be found at the center's Internet site, www.iy2kcc.org. For information from the State Department about Y2K problems abroad, look for notices at www.state.gov.

Talks With Russians on Warning System

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen will likely discuss the creation of a Y2K coordinating center with the Russians during his trip to Moscow at mid-month. The center, planned for Colorado Springs, would serve as a joint post to monitor for computer glitches that could cause malfunctions in Russia's early warning system for nuclear missile launches. Talks between the two nations on the center had broken off this year after NATO began bombing Serbia....

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By Tom Doggett, September 8 2:14 AM ET
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19990908/sc/yk_nuclear_2.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that 28 nuclear power reactors in the U.S. need to upgrade their computers to avoid possible Y2K computer problems, though none of the work still to be done involves computer safety systems.

The commission said 75 of the nation's 103 operating nuclear power reactors were completely Y2K-compliant and it believed there would not be any problems with the remaining facilities becoming Y2K compliant before year end.

``At this time, the NRC believes that all licensees will be able to operate their plants safely during the Y2K transition,'' the agency said.

Electrical utilities that own nuclear power plants have retooled their systems to avoid any year 2000 problems in older computer systems that use only two digits to represent the year.

Experts fear that computers worldwide could shutdown on January 1, 2000, if they misread the year as 1900 instead of 2000.

Most of the remaining reactors will be completely Y2K ready by the end of this month or in October, the agency said.

However, the computers at two reactors will not be fully upgraded until the final weeks of the year, leaving a small window to address any unexpected problems.

The plants cutting it close to the deadline are the Commanche Peak Unit 1 rector in Somervell County, Texas, which will not be ready until November 30, and the Farley Unit 2 plant near Dothan, Alabama, that will be upgraded by December 12.

The NRC said after checking the records at the Cooper Nuclear plant in Nebraska, it determined the reactor was not Y2K ready, even though the plant's operators said its computers had been upgraded on July 1.

In addition, Cooper told the NRC that during an audit it discovered three pieces of the plant's equipment were improperly evaluated by the reactor's contractor.

None of the equipment was related to safely shutting down the plant, and the reactor's operator has told the NRC the problems have been fixed.

The agency said it is checking to see if the problem is unique to Cooper, but so far has no indication it extends to other plants.

---

By MATTHEW L. WALD, September 8, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/08year.html

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department said Tuesday that it was concerned that 12 electric utilities were not ready for the year 2000, as the electric utility industry was set to begin a large-scale drill on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for New Year's Eve.

Another 16 utilities, all municipal or rural cooperatives, have not reported on their state of readiness, and dozens of others are not ready but have convinced the North American Electric Reliability Council, which coordinates planning for power plants and power lines, that they have only limited problems to fix.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in a statement today that "until all the utilities across the country can say they are Y2K-ready with full contingency plans, I cannot assure consumers that we have done everything possible to keep the power on into the year 2000."

The Year 2000 problem, known as Y2K, arises from a long-time practice of computer programmers to enter only the last two digits of the year; some computers, facing the year after 1999, will assume it is 1900, and could fail or produce bad data.

The companies judged not ready are mostly small. Some much larger ones, like the Ameren Corporation, which serves 1.8 million customers in Missouri and Illinois, are considered "ready with limited exceptions." Spokesmen for companies in that category, though, said that they expected to be ready well before Dec. 31. Some said the delays were the result of new equipment that had not been tested, and others said there were economic and operational benefits to waiting until after summer.

By naming names, Richardson appeared to be trying to put pressure on laggards.

At one that was declared not ready, Tacoma Power, a municipal utility in Washington state that serves 143,000 customers, Max Emrick, an assistant generation manager, said that control systems at two hydroelectric stations were unprepared for 2000. Hardware was in hand to fix them, he said, but the stations would not be shut down until later this month and October.

If the utility had to, Emrick said, it could program the systems to believe it was 1972, a leap year like 2000 with the same day-date matchup.

But even if the utility did nothing, Emrick said, the two generators would keep working. "With these pieces of equipment, it's nice to have the right date on them, but we could do about any date," he said.

Emrick said he considered his company to be in the category of "Y2K ready with limited exceptions," even though the Energy Department does not.

At Ameren, Susan L. Gallagher, a spokeswoman at the St. Louis headquarters, said that the system had been running at full blast all summer because of the heat, and "we didn't want to monkey with it."

The devices that measure pollution on some of the company's coal-fired power stations are not ready for 2000, Ms. Gallagher said.

The company's transmission system also has software that must be upgraded, she said.

"Everything will be YK2-ready on September 30," Ms. Gallagher said. "We are now doing that work."

Another company on the Energy Department's "limited exception" list was Cilcorp Inc. of Peoria, Ill., the parent of the Central Illinois Light Company. A spokesman, Neal C. Johnson, said a 30-year-old system that communicates between substations and a dispatch center had been replace this summer. The new equipment is being tested now for Year 2000 compliance, he said.

This week's rehearsal is expected to involve over 2,000 companies that will simulate operating if a generating station or a voice link fails.

Some of the companies that the Energy Department said were not ready were traditional utilities, and others were owners of scattered power generating plants.

The department listed the Central Louisiana Electric Company; City Public Service of San Antonio, Tex.; Cogentrix Energy Inc. of Charlotte, N.C.; Lafayette (Louisiana) Utilities System; the city of Lakeland, Fla.; Milford (Mass.) Operating Company; the Utility Board of Brownsville, Tex.; and the Plains Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative of Albuquerque, N.M.

In addition, the Department listed four companies that the North American Electric Reliability Council said have since moved up into the "limited exception" category: Tacoma Power; the Platte River Power Authority of Fort Collins, Colo.; United American Energy Corporation of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.; and the Calenergy Company Inc., now known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings, of Omaha, Neb.

---

By ERIC SCHMITT, September 8, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/08compute.html

WASHINGTON -- Having declared itself ready to deal with any computer glitches as the year 2000 arrives, the Pentagon is now worried that 500,000 American troops and military dependents stationed overseas may face problems if foreign power grids, water systems or phone lines go haywire.

With less than four months to go before computers around the world have to cope with the Year 2000 software flaw, senior Pentagon officials say about 40 percent of the 130 key foreign bases that the military is monitoring meet American standards of assurance that essential services will remain unaffected.

But the officials say that number is expected to climb rapidly as more information is gathered from local officials. The American military uses more than 300 installations worldwide.

The questions commanders are asking include: Will foreign air traffic control systems work? Will seaport cargo handling equipment function properly? Will automated security networks go down? Will civilian hospitals suffer power outages?

"We anticipate there will be some disruption, but we don't think it'll affect our war-fighting ability," Deputy Defense Secretary John J. Hamre said in an interview. "We are concerned about what happens to dependents living on the economy overseas."

By mid-October, Hamre said, the Pentagon will decide where it may need to send backup equipment, like auxiliary generators, water purification machines and air traffic control systems, as a hedge against possible problems.

The Pentagon effort has touched some raw diplomatic nerves, as some countries or local officials have been reluctant or unable to give American officials technical details about safeguards against the problems that could arise because some computer software cannot recognize that the two-digit date 00 means 2000, not 1900.

"Most countries aren't going to tell you they have a problem, so you have to read between the lines of what they say," Hamre said.

To improve the reliability of their overall assessment, the Pentagon began dispatching teams of experts late last month from the military, American embassies, the Energy, Commerce and Transportation Departments and the Central Intelligence Agency to Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

Those experts are meeting with their foreign counterparts to fill gaps in information about specific bases and to ask about scores of ports, airfields and other overseas sites that the American military relies on but does not control, like the Suez Canal.

Most European countries, including Britain and Germany, are passing with flying colors, as are Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, officials familiar with the assessments say. But the essential services provided to large numbers of American troops and dependents by some key allies, like Italy and Turkey, require greater scrutiny, the officials say.

The military, of course, plans for all kinds of contingencies. Pentagon officials say the point of their review is not to demand computer safeguards or provide corrective measures, but to identify where the military may need to step in with help.

"In the end it's not important whether a foreign port works or doesn't work, but that we have a plan for that situation," said Peter F. Verga, a senior Pentagon troubleshooter for overseas issues.

Important bases in Italy, like Aviano, from which allied warplanes flew missions in the air war over Kosovo, are mostly self-sufficient, military officials say. But officials are less confident about services outside the gates.

"The concern is between the bases," said Maj. Jim Dudley, a logistics specialist for the Year 2000 computer issues for the military's European Command. "We use leased communications lines mostly from in-country utilities. They seem to be doing well, but we don't have a complete picture of where they are."

American officials express concern that the major earthquake in Turkey last month could set back that country's efforts to assess its potential computer problems. The military is also worried about outposts in South America and Africa, because many countries in those continents were late in addressing the issue, officials said.

The military's European Command is planning a major drill at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in early October to test routine operations, such as sending an electronic computer message or making a secure telephone call to another base, in situations where problems could occur.

Using information gathered by Government teams and from other sources, the State Department plans, later this month, to issue country-by-country travel advisories of possible problems.

The Pentagon and its regional worldwide commands have created task forces to examine the issue of compliance by host nations. Hamre has ordered monthly briefings on the subject, beginning this month, and top military aides to the Joint Chiefs of Staff will brief the four-star regional commanders in Washington on Sept. 23.

To assess its progress, the Pentagon is using a rating system for the 130 key installations, using stoplight colors as benchmarks. The system evaluates seven variables: communications, energy, finance, safety, sewage, transportation and water.

A green light means that the Pentagon is confident that a service will be unaffected. A yellow light indicates that the military has yet to be persuaded that the system will function properly. A red light means that the country acknowledges that it will have problems. "By and large, we have very few cases where it's red," Hamre said.

A sampling of the assessments provided by the Pentagon reflects how much the review is a work in progress.

As of last week, for example, most lights were yellow on the chart for the Navy base in Rota, Spain. Camp Humphries, an Army helicopter base in South Korea, showed a mixture of yellow and green. An Army garrison in Hanau, Germany, showed solid green. None of the briefing charts provided had any red lights.

There is also an important fourth category: white lights, which means that the information is unknown. Right now, many installations' charts are filled with white lights, and coloring in those blanks will be a top Pentagon priority.

"We don't want to be surprised," said Rear Adm. Robert F. Willard, who is overseeing the Year 2000 computer assessment for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

---

By REUTERS, September 8, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/08year-sec.html

WASHINGTON -- The White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Wall Street officials, moving to calm fears about year-end computer problems, said Tuesday that the first trading day of 2000 would be business as usual.

"I'm very, very pleased that we're able, as an industry, to report to 70 million Americans who are owners of equities securities that the first trading day" of 2000 "will be business as usual," Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, said at a news conference at S.E.C. headquarters.

Grasso, seated next to Frank Zarb, chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers, parent of the Nasdaq stock market, said "the two principal markets have conducted all of the necessary tests" so that investors will consider the first trading day of 2000 to be "just another trading day."

Marc Lackritz, head of the Securities Industry Association, the Wall Street lobbying group, said at the news conference, "We've checked and re-checked all of our computers, and we've tested and retested all of our systems, and we think we're very well prepared for the conversion on Jan. 1, 2000."

To make sure, there will be a test on Jan. 1, Zarb said, adding, it "will give us an opportunity to reaffirm that all we think is well continues to be well."

There are still bound to be some mistakes, Arthur Levitt, S.E.C. chairman, told reporters, but "I am assured that those mistakes are minimal."

---

September 8, 1999 New York Times Editorial http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/08wed4.html

Forum Join a Discussion on Editorials http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?13@@.efe0df1

Despite its cutting-edge culture, New York City sometimes struggles along on technology that predates the atomic era. The Department of Human Resources is still battling to get its records on computers.

A whole industry known as "expediters" specializes in standing in line for developers who want permits from the Buildings Department. Computer systems in one government agency refuse to speak to systems elsewhere.

Now things seem to be turning around, thanks to help from an unlikely source. The Y2K crisis has forced the city to make computers a top priority. This summer, hardware that first saw the light of day in 1977 was taken off line and replaced with a new high-speed computer network. The immediate goal was to protect the government's financial management system when the year 2000 arrives. But in the process, technicians were also able to lay the groundwork for a system that will allow the agencies to interact easily via computer, both with one another and the public.

Within a few years, the Giuliani administration promises, New Yorkers will be able to use a computerized payment center to get a list of all the fines, parking tickets, taxes and other bills they owe the city, and then pay them on their home computers. An earlier Y2K upgrade at the Health Department has already cut the infamous nine-month waiting time for a copy of a birth certificate down to a week or less. Indeed, with technology's help, the city may someday boast a smaller, better-paid work force.

Right now, for example, the Corrections Department has begun to cut down on the cost of shuttling prisoners between Rikers Island and the courts through teleconferencing. The Buildings Department is putting together a program that would allow elevator inspectors to report their findings on- site, with palm computers.

Previous efforts to modernize city services have often come to grief.

But the huge investment being made in the new computer systems does seem to offer real hope. And we owe it all to Y2K.

---

Thanks for visiting USA TODAY
http://survey.usatoday.com/cgi-bin/feedback.cgi

Your name: Ellen Thomas Your ZIP code: 20038 Your e-mail: prop1@prop1.org
Subject: Major issues awaiting returning Congress Category: News Comment:
9/06/99- Updated 11:17 PM ET http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsmon09.htm

'Major issues awaiting returning Congress' doesn't mention HR-2545, the 'Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act,' co-sponsored by Eleanor Holmes Norton, Lynn Woolsey, John Lewis, introduced July 16, 1999. Nor does it mention Rep. Ed Markey's excellent legislation, H.Res. 177, to de-alert nuclear weapons before the end of the year, a grand idea even if there weren't the danger of Y2K-bug quirks. Nor does it explore Rep. Lynn Woolsey's H.Res. 82, Global Nuclear Disarmament Convention legislation. These companion bills could help defuse the current arms race.

The Norton bill asks for a (mere) promise, the U.S. will get rid of all its nuclear weapons IF everyone else will, and use the money saved (many billions each year) to help convert nuclear and other (global) arms industries into more productive, peaceful endeavors. For example, the taxes currently allocated to missiles and bombs could be used for mass-producing solar panels, windmills, hydrogen fuel cells, geo-thermal and bio-mass systems, for individuals and communities to wean ourselves from dangerous nuclear power, and ozone-depleting, disappearing fossil fuels.

Ms. Woolsey's resolution takes the proposal to the international stage by convening a global nuclear disarmament convention representing all nuclear powers, current or contemplated, including countries which confine their nuclear technology to power plants.

A prelude to this convention was the 1996 Canberra Commission. (See http://prop1.org/2000/canbcomm.htm)

You can read/learn about these various bills at http://prop1.org

--------------

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1999 /PRNewswire/
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/990907/oh_esi_new_1.html

Production and consumption of energy is the largest business in the world. After seven years and $3.4 million, Entropy Systems Inc., (ESI) has developed engine technology that produces power, by absorbing heat from atmospheric air, that can be at any temperature (even sub-zero). No fossil fuels or any nuclear materials are required to operate these engines and therefore they do not produce any pollution. In other words ESI engines are Room Temperature Superconductors of heat. ESI engines require no cryogenic liquids or any fuel storage systems and can be used to run Automobiles, Boats, Lawnmowers and Generators.

Conventional engines can only convert high temperature heat to power, which is produced by burning fossil fuels. The ESI engine takes room temperature air, absorbs heat from the air like a sponge, converts that heat to power and exhausts air at a lower temperature. This low-temperature exhaust can be used for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. Thus the ESI engine is both an Engine and a Refrigerator. An electric generator coupled to this engine produces electricity. ESI engines can operate year round in any kind of weather and have efficiencies higher than any conventional engines, refrigerators and Fuel Cells.

Patents on this technology are approved by the United States of America, Australia and the European Economic Community. Sanjay Amin is the inventor of this technology. His book on Thermodynamics was published in 1994 and he also received the ASEI, Engineer of the year award in 1996. Sanjay also has several patents to his name. Tests on developmental prototypes were conducted at Youngstown State University, Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University. Youngstown State University's Cushwa Center for Enterpreneurship helped launch ESI. Larry Armstrong of Businessweek magazine writes, ``Almost everyone in the 21st century is going to have a personal power-plant.''

More information is available on the website: http://www.entropysystems.com or contact Allison Haake of Entropy Systems Inc., 8150 Market Street, Youngstown, Ohio, 44512, USA, 330-726-2051, or fax, 330-726-2052.

SOURCE: Entropy Systems, Inc.

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By The Associated Press, September 6, 1999
http://www.courierpress.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/199909/06/+leukemiarep_news.html+19990906+news
http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/news/090699/statedocs/06Uranium-Leukemia.htm

Researchers from the federal government considered investigating reports of leukemia among workers at the uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, but decided against it.

A team from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health spent a week at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in 1992 looking for records for a possible study on the health effects of worker exposure to uranium and electromagnetic fields, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Sunday.

The researchers found plenty of employee data in paper files and computer databases, including a file on worker leukemia deaths. Through interviews with plant officials and union leaders, the team learned of worries about the disease among employees.

“The leukemia concerns should have been followed up,” said James Stebbings, who led the team that visited the plant in December 1992. “Chances are 50-50 or better it would have turned out to be nothing. But it should have been done.”

A NIOSH official said the agency had decided instead to first complete a study of the health of workers at a sister uranium enrichment plant in Ohio, where metal was processed to a higher level of radioactivity than at Paducah. That study is still under way.

Stebbings, now an Illinois epidemiologist, said last week that the Paducah plant’s industrial hygiene department had maintained a file on leukemia cases that ended in 1981. He said an employee had informed the NIOSH team about it.

Stebbings said he did not know whether there were more instances of leukemia among plant workers and their families than would be expected for the general population.

But he said the fact that the plant processed uranium contaminated with highly radioactive plutonium, which can cause leukemia and other cancers, was another reason the reports should have been investigated.

Three plant employees filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in June alleging that workers were unknowingly exposed to plutonium and other radioactive contaminants. They claim the exposure came from spent uranium fuel sent from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford, Wash., nuclear weapons reactor to Paducah for reprocessing.

Steven Ahrenholz, now assistant chief of NIOSH’s Health Related Energy Research Branch in Cincinnati, was another member of the team that visited Paducah. He said concerns about leukemia there were based on a NIOSH study of worker health at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. That 1987 study found higher-than-expected incidence of leukemia and stomach cancer, but the results were not statistically significant.

A followup study was launched at Portsmouth.

“We were trying to determine whether it was appropriate at that time to add in that Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant with the Piketon study,” Ahrenholz said, “or whether we wanted to do the Piketon mortality study update and see what the outcome of that was before we made any other decisions about what we would do.

“At that time we felt that we should just proceed with the Portsmouth plant itself.”

He said that while there were similarities between the two plants, the Ohio plant produced much more highly enriched uranium with more potential for radiation exposure for use in nuclear weapons. Both plants now make uranium for nuclear power plants.

The Piketon study is scheduled to be completed around Jan. 1.

The only study of worker health at Paducah is one that is just beginning and involves the union and researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It is being done in response to a law passed by Congress in 1993 that required such studies at all Department of Energy nuclear facilities.

Jimmie Hodges, now the Department of Energy’s Paducah site manager, was the agency’s health and safety director for the plant when NIOSH investigators visited Paducah in 1992. He said he didn’t know about any files being kept on leukemia.

“I’ve not heard anything like that,” Hodges said. “I’m just not familiar with that at all.”

The Kentucky Cancer Registry, which has tracked cancer cases since 1991, has not noted any unusual cancer incidence in McCracken County, where the Paducah plant is located.

---

Yahoo News, Kentuky Headlines, September 7, 1999
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/kentucky/story.html?s=v/rs/19990907/ky/index_2.html#3

(PADUCAH) -- The filing of a lawsuit by 14 employees of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant last week could be just the beginning of legal action. The employees say they weren't told their work included handling potentially lethal plutonium. The Paducah plant could be facing a class action suit from all former and present employees worried about getting cancer. That could include as many as 20-thousand employees.

GE Layoffs - (LOUISVILLE) -- When workers return to General Electric in Louisville today they will be part of a "rebalance" of the production line. G-E laid off 170 workers Friday as a result of slow sales of appliances. Meanwhile, G-E continues to debate building refrigerators in Mexico, a move that would eliminate work at the Lexington plant. That decision is expected next month....

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September 7, 1999 OBSERVATORY, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/090799sci-observatory.html

Largely forgotten amid all the hubbub surrounding the near-Earth approach last month of the Cassini spacecraft was the fact that the flyby gave the mission's operators the first chance to test the cameras that will be used when the probe reaches Jupiter and Saturn.

Cassini came within 700 miles of Earth as part of a plan to use the planet's gravity to boost the spacecraft's speed for the long trip to Jupiter, which it will approach at the end of next year, and to Saturn, where it is due in 2004. Some people were concerned that if the trajectory was off, the spacecraft could have been incinerated over the Pacific Ocean, dispersing the on-board plutonium (used to generate power) into the atmosphere. That didn't happen.

Cassini scientists and engineers took advantage of the approach to try out the cameras, aiming them at the Moon.

The two cameras, one a wide-angle model, the other a narrow-angle one, worked perfectly, the mission operators said.

Images can be seen on the Web, at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/....

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ :

This service, developed as a collaboration between NASA's Planetary Data System Imaging Node, the Solar System Visualization Project,and JPL's Public Information Office, is designed to provide you with easy access to the publicly released images from various Solar System exploration programs. The system database is currently populated with approximately 1500 images; more are being added every day.

NOTE: Please update your bookmarks. This site should now only be accessed from the following URLs: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ http://photojournal.wr.usgs.gov/

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By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Monday, September 6, 1999; Page A25
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-09/06/075l-090699-idx.html

The Energy Department admitted to serious problems last week in a program to build the world's largest laser, including mismanagement that will add hundreds of millions of dollars to its original $1.2 billion price tag.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who said he was assured the project was on target as recently as June, ordered an overhaul of the program at the Lawrence Livermore weapons laboratory and an investigation into why the cost overruns were not revealed earlier.

The massive laser, which was supposed to have been completed by 2003, is being built at the California research lab in a project to monitor and maintain America's nuclear warheads without testing nuclear bombs.

Energy Department officials said mismanagement may cause the project's cost to soar as much as $350 million above the originally projected $1.2 billion and delay completion by as much as two years.

Richardson's announcement Friday came a week after an embarrassing disclosure about the former project director's academic credentials.

Edward Campbell resigned after it became known that he had for years implied he held a doctorate in electrical engineering when in fact he never completed his PhD dissertation at Princeton University.

Campbell remains an employee at Livermore. Department officials said his resignation was not related directly to the cost overruns.

Officials at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, run by the University of California, did not immediately return telephone calls.

Sharply critical of the university's handling of the laser construction, Richardson said he has ordered $2 million of the university's $5.6 million good-performance fee withheld because of the laser project problems. Additional money may be held back after a more thorough investigation, he said.

The university "must assume a stronger role in oversight of research and development projects" such as the laser, Richardson said.

The energy secretary was particularly miffed about long delays in notifying him about management and cost problems surrounding the project, formally called the National Ignition Facility.

"As late as early June . . . I was informed that NIF was on cost and on schedule," Richardson said, adding that he has directed an independent panel of experts to investigate what happened and recommend how to get the project back on course.

Most cost overruns stem from underestimation of difficulties and complexities involved in assembling high-precision optical components of the 192-beam laser system, said a senior department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Richardson directed that a new contractor be found to carry out the final assembly and integration of the facility, which when completed will cover an area the size of a football field. The weapons lab retains overall responsibility for the finished product.

In testimony before Congress last March, Bruce Tarter, director of the Livermore lab, assured lawmakers that the project was progressing without problems and said half the 192 beams would be available by 2002. The project would be completed in 2003, he said.

"I am pleased to report that NIF construction is on budget and on schedule," Tarter told a congressional budget hearing. He asked for $248.1 million in construction funds for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. He said 87 percent of the $1.2 billion total cost would be committed by the end of 2000.

Since its inception in 1997, the program has been the object of seven scientific and four management reviews, the latest last spring.

"Clearly we have had a major project management surprise," Richardson said.

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September 2, 2:02 pm Eastern Time, Company Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990902/az_raytheo_1.html

TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 2, 1999--The AIM-9X Sidewinder, under development by Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTNA - news, RTNB - news), met another major program milestone this week by completing a guided launch from an Eglin AFB F-15 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The successful launch resulted in the intercept of a remotely piloted QF-4 aircraft on the morning of Sept.1. This was the first guided launch from a U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter aircraft and the second in a series of guided launches off F/A-18 and F-15 aircraft.

``This flight continues to show the superior performance of AIM-9X, demonstrating the ability to successfully engage targets against difficult terrain,'' said Chuck Anderson, Raytheon Systems Company vice president for the Air-to-Air Missiles product line in Tucson, Ariz.

This guided launch marked the next significant milestone for the AIM-9X program as it was the first look-down, shoot-down engagement evaluating the ability of the missile's infrared seeker to track a full-size target through launch, flyout, and intercept in a rugged, desert background. Data from the flight is being used to validate the high fidelity simulation being used to further predict missile performance. ``This success comes on the heels of the successful F/A-18 guided attack against an F-4,'' said Capt. Dave Venlet, program manager Air-to-Air Missile Systems, PMA-259. ``These missile shots keep us on the path toward FY '00 production approval.''

In parallel with the guided flights, separation and control missiles are launched with preprogrammed maneuvers to evaluate separation and flyout characteristics throughout the aircraft envelope.

The AIM-9X program has now completed four separation and control test launches, two from the F/A-18 and two from the F-15. Subsequent guided launches and separation tests off U.S. Navy F/A-18 and U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft are scheduled throughout 1999.

The AIM-9X is a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force program currently in engineering and manufacturing development. It is the newest member of the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range missile family currently in use by more than 40 nations throughout the world.

Raytheon Company, based in Lexington, Mass., is a global technology leader that provides products and services in the areas of commercial and defense electronics, engineering and construction, and business and special mission aircraft. Raytheon has operations throughout the United States and serves customers in more than 80 countries around the world.

Contact:
Raytheon Company Cynthia Curiel, 520-794-7810 http://www.raytheon.com

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 1999--
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990907/al_nichols_1.html

Michael W. Solley, President of the Government Segment of Nichols Research Corporation (Nichols) (Nasdaq: NRES - news), announced today that Nichols has been awarded a subcontract from SY Technology for the Space and Missile Defense Initiative and Support (SMDIS) Contract in support of the U.S. Army Space Command, Colorado Springs, CO. This is a 5-year subcontract with SY Technology including options and valued at approximately $10.0 Million. Nichols initial subcontract is valued at $3,316,642.

This Scientific, Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contract, covers a wide range of efforts involving the space and missile defense community. Specific areas that Nichols will be actively involved in consist of Theater and National Missile Defense, doctrine and architecture, modeling and simulation, information fusion, C4ISR and system engineering.

Mr. Solley states, ``This contract further enhances our capabilities in the space and missile defense area and we are proud to be a part of the SY Technology SMDIS Team.''

Nichols Research, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, provides IT and technical services for the Department of Defense, Federal civilian agencies, state government clients, and commercial clients. The company has over 30 locations throughout the United States, 3000 employees, and revenues of over $420 Million. Additional information may be found at the Nichols web site: www.nichols.com. The Company's stock is traded under the Nasdaq market symbol: NRES.

Except for historical information contained herein, this release contains forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements can be generally identified as such because the content of the statement will usually contain words such as the Company or management ``believes,'' ``anticipates,'' ``expects,'' ``estimates,'' ``plans,'' and words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives, goals or strategies are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in more detail in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 1998, including the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations section of that Annual Report.

Contact:

Nichols Research Corporation, Huntsville Pat L. Hattox, 256/885-7447 hattoxp@nichols.com

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September 7, 4:42 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Tennessee Valley Authority
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/990907/tn_tva_rec_1.html

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- TVA nuclear plants have generated power cumulatively without interruption for a record-setting total of 1,000 days, TVA Chairman Craven Crowell said today.

``TVA's nuclear program continues to raise the standards for the nuclear utility industry by increasing generation, improving efficiency and reducing costs,'' Crowell said. ``We congratulate TVA nuclear employees who are responsible for keeping these plants on line and for helping TVA continue to be a competitive source of power for our customers.''

The five units reached the 1,000-day milestone -- a first for TVA's nuclear program -- on Monday, September 6, and are continuing to add to the record. All units continue to operate today at full power.

In reaching the 1,000 days, Unit 3 at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., operated non-stop for 326 days, and Unit 2 at Browns Ferry operated 113 days. Unit 1 at Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., operated 299 straight days, and Unit 2 operated 118 days. Unit 1 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tenn., operated continuously for 144 days.

During the 1,000-day run, the five TVA nuclear units produced more than 26.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity operating at 99 percent of their maximum capability. That's enough power to supply the electrical needs of Chattanooga, Huntsville, Knoxville and Memphis for more than a year.

The five units at three nuclear sites provide about 28 percent of the total electricity generated by TVA.

Crowell said maintaining and operating the plants to the highest of standards by TVA nuclear employees resulted in numerous performance accomplishments during the 1,000 days of continued operation. Those include:

TVA had operated each of its five nuclear units for 100 consecutive days or more on August 26, marking the third time in the history of TVA's nuclear program. For the third consecutive time, TVA employees set a world record refueling outage for plants of similar design on May 11 by returning Sequoyah Unit 2 to service in 23 days-six days ahead of the previous refueling outage record set by Sequoyah Unit 1 in October 1998 and seven and a half days better than Unit 2's refueling outage in 1997. TVA nuclear power units were ranked among the top 20 performers in the United States and the top 50 worldwide during 1998 by a prominent nuclear industry publication. Nucleonics Week's report on the top nuclear power plant performers based its rankings on capacity factor, which measures productivity of the plant, and total generation. TVA nuclear employees received three Top Industry Practice Awards in May 1999 at the Nuclear Energy Institute's Nuclear Energy Assembly.

TVA is the nation's largest producer of electricity, and its power system is self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 159 power distributors that serve about 8 million consumers in seven southeastern states.

SOURCE: Tennessee Valley Authority

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By Tim Smart Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 8, 1999; Page E01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-09/08/109l-090899-idx.html

In yet another blow to its troubled space business, Lockheed Martin Corp. has been displaced as the country's dominant supplier of top-secret government spy satellites with the loss of a $4.5 billion contract to competitor Boeing Co.

The victory by Boeing, which has made increasing its military and space business a key objective since its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas Corp., means Lockheed will no longer control the manufacture and launch of spy satellites for the super-secret National Reconnaissance Office. Bethesda-based Lockheed and its predecessor companies have been the primary maker of the "Keyhole" group of satellites that orbit the Earth and take pictures, as well as the rockets on which the satellites are launched, since the 1950s.

The NRO contract, which was awarded late Friday and first disclosed yesterday in Defense Daily, is the largest and final portion of the agency's Future Imagery Architecture system. The NRO does not provide details about the dollar value of the program, but people familiar with it say it is worth at least $4.5 billion. "Black" programs, as classified contracts are called within the defense industry, also tend to be highly profitable.

"We have said all along that the single biggest growth area for the Boeing Co. is in space and communications," said Boeing spokesman Doug Kennett.

Lockheed spokesman James Fetig acknowledged the loss, saying, "We're disappointed."

The loss is the latest in a string of bad news for Lockheed's space business. Last week, the top executive in the company's space sector retired to take a job as chief executive of Allegheny Teledyne Inc. The manager, A. Thomas Corcoran, was viewed within the industry as a turnaround artist who took over the space job last fall after a series of mishaps. These included the failure last August of a Lockheed Titan IV carrying a spy satellite for the NRO, as well as the loss of an Air Force contract--to Boeing--to build a new generation of expendable rockets.

"The name Lockheed and Lockheed Martin has been virtually synonymous with these satellites for four decades," said John Pike, director of space policy at the Federation of American Scientists. "Lockheed not only loses the spy satellite business, but they also lose the heavy, unmanned launch vehicle business."

Later this week, the company is expected to release a report critical of its space businesses, faulting the firm for placing too heavy an emphasis on trimming costs and not monitoring employee quality adequately.

Loss of the NRO contract has "broad ramifications" for Lockheed, said Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Byron Callan: "The classified programs have typically provided technology, overhead absorption and products over time."

Pike said the loss also shows the degree to which the balance of power has shifted in the military part of the aerospace industry, where Lockheed was also seen as the leader and Boeing the No. 2 among the top three contractors, with Raytheon Co. specializing in the defense electronics niche.

But ever since Boeing bested Lockheed in the contract for a national missile defense shield and the expendable launchers, the two companies have been competing more as equals. And they are locked in a furious battle to build the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's largest weapons program and a contract that could be worth as much as $300 billion during the next century.

"Talk about a reversal of fortune," Pike said of Lockheed. "It's really astonishing. This company has got a serious problem now."

Lockheed shares closed yesterday at $35, down $1.62 1/2, on the New York Stock Exchange.

---

By ELIZABETH BECKER, September 8, 1999 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/090899lockheed-martin.html

WASHINGTON -- Since the House voted in July to strip $1.8 billion from the F-22 fighter jet program, the Air Force and Lockheed Martin have undertaken a relentless, multimillion-dollar campaign to convince lawmakers to restore the money.

When members of Congress left the Capitol last month, corporate leaders of Lockheed Martin followed them, warning key legislators in their home districts that hundreds of jobs would be lost if there was not enough money to build the Air Force's newest fighter jet.

In four cities, they brought along an elaborate computer simulator of the plane's cockpit to put on a dazzling, video-game like demonstration of the fighter's potential.

The Pentagon has also been pushing to save the F-22. Senior military leaders, from Gen. Henry Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Gen. Wesley Clark, the head of NATO forces, undertook a rare letter-writing campaign warning Senate and House leaders that American pilots "who will put their lives on the line" in the future are counting on the F-22.

And the Air Force Association, with its 155,000 members, has spent the last month and a half blanketing Congress with letters, visits and a videotape ("F-22: Does Air Superiority Matter?") as well as mailings and a "call to action" by its president.

This week, with Congress back and preparing to decide whether to restore or cut the money, officials from Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Pratt Whitney are holding a conference and pep rally in the Virginia suburbs Tuesday and Wednesday to pump up top subcontractors of the F-22 and then send them off to lobby Congress in a bid to save the $70 billion program.

"It's the massive scale of it -- with people swarming all over the Hill," said Dale Bumpers, the former Arkansas senator who heads the Center for Defense Information, which opposes the program. "There are no real heavy hitters who can counter them, especially since the officials at the Pentagon want this worse than they want to go to heaven."

In effect, a small group of Washington research institutes are the only opponents outside of Congress countering the lobbying onslaught from the armed forces and military industry, and they admit that they will probably lose this battle.

"The Pentagon says it's not lobbying, but there's about a half a dozen of us in the think tank world and about a thousand of them talking to Congress," said Michael O'Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, who also opposes full financing.

Defense Department officials are even challenging the fellows of these research institutes on their home ground, the opinion pages of newspapers, arguing that from the Persian Gulf War to the Kosovo campaign this year, the United States has become ever more dependent on air superiority to win at war.

But in this uneven lobbying effort, critics of the F-22 program are holding their own by pressing the Pentagon on how it plans to pay for this hugely expensive weapons system as well as two other fighter jet programs.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who heads the House subcommittee that cut the financing, held his deliberations in private and announced the results without warning so panel members could evaluate the program without pressure from the Pentagon.

Since then, Lewis has been visited by Gen. Michael E. Ryan, the Air Force chief of staff. He has also flown to Marietta, Ga., to visit the huge plant where Lockheed Martin is manufacturing the first F-22s, and has received a stinging letter from Defense Secretary William Cohen warning him that "I cannot accept a defense bill that kills this cornerstone program." None of this has altered Lewis' position.

"I can tell you the discussions didn't change his mind and his determination to get the Air Force to reassess its priorities," said Jim Speck, a top aide to Lewis.

Those priorities include asking the Pentagon what threat exists that would require full financing of three fighter jet programs that would cost $300 billion. Analyses by the research institutes, from the conservative Cato Institute to the more liberal Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, all conclude that one of those programs will have to be eliminated.

In arguing that the Pentagon should scale back its F-22 program, O'Hanlon said that with the current budget constraints, the Pentagon could not justify spending its scarce dollars on one fighter jet program to the detriment of programs like troop readiness.

"The United States is the world's overwhelming aerospace power and will remain that way, with or without the F-22, for many years to come," O'Hanlon said.

Pentagon officials have been countering that argument with daily briefings for congressmen and their staffs, complete with slides and handouts, said Lt. Gen. Gregory Martin, an Air Force deputy assistant secretary.

"The Department of Defense and the Air Force are working their tails off for this program," he said. "It is unusual, but the F-22 is more than a program -- it's a capability that the services believe they need for the new generation."

Lockheed Martin, which announced in June that it would have drastically reduced profits for this year, is using dozens of its lobbyists to put back the $1.8 billion and keep the F-22 in full production.

"We're doing everything that could be reasonably expected under the circumstances," said James Fetig, a Lockheed Martin spokesman.

---

September 8, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/letters/llewi.html

The Fighter Jet That Doesn't Need to Be Resurrected (Sept. 4, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/early/09049904bump.html

To the Editor:

Dale Bumpers (Op-Ed, Sept. 4) undermines his argument against the F-22 fighter jet when he asks, "What is the threat that would justify $40 billion more for the F-22?"

If we wait to identify a threat that is just in its beginning stage, how quickly could F-22's be produced? Are we willing to gamble that the threat will develop slowly enough for us to first build the aircraft and then train the crews for deployment?

There is great concern among many experts about the current United States military preparedness. The cost of such preparedness has always been high. But the alternative is immeasurably more cost-ly.

BYRON C. LEWIN Visalia, Calif., Sept. 4, 1999

The writer is a former pilot in the United States Navy.