Nuclear power stations rely on water cooling systems - these are used to control the temperature inside the reactor. If the temperature rises too high, the reactor may melt down, with radioactive gases escaping into the atmosphere. Time: January 1^st, 2001. Place: The Tranquil River Nuclear Power Station, Ontario, Canada Accident Details: A water cooling system sensor fails. In consequence, no one realizes when the reactor temperature rises, and as a result there is a radioactive gas leak. Thousands of people downwind of the power station are affected, many dying immediately, others developing cancers over the next few years, and children in future generations suffering birth defects. Nuclear Power Station Details: Designed by a French company experienced in nuclear power station design work; Built by Chinese construction engineers, supervised by French, Canadian and Chinese management staff. Software developed by the Osaka (Japan) office of an Australian software house that won the contract in a competitive bid (other bids had been nominated by software houses based in India. Germany, Russia and South Korea). An investigation into the disaster conducted by an independent third party concludes that the software controlling the water cooling system was not Y2K compliant. You have been employed by the Canadian government to assess what should be done in this case. The government is concerned about the accident and wants to ensure that date related problems do not recur. However, it does not ask you to make any decisions about punishments. It also asks that your investigation be conducted in private, that your results be reported directly to the Ministry of Energy in the government, and that you do not 'leak' any findings to the media