NTP at NIST Boulder Has Lost Power
15 hours ago
- #time service
- #power outage
- #NIST
- NIST's Boulder campus atomic ensemble time scale failed due to a prolonged utility power outage.
- Boulder Internet Time Services no longer have an accurate time reference; servers may be disabled to prevent incorrect time dissemination.
- Affected servers include time-a-b.nist.gov, time-b-b.nist.gov, time-c-b.nist.gov, time-d-b.nist.gov, time-e-b.nist.gov, and ntp-b.nist.gov.
- No repair time estimate available until staff access and power are restored.
- Efforts are focused on securing alternate power to preserve hydrogen maser clocks beyond battery backups.
- Power outage caused by high wind gusts damaging utility lines and preemptive shutdowns for wildfire prevention.
- NIST campus lost power on Dec. 17, 2025, around 22:23 UTC; remains without power at the time of writing.
- Heat-exchange infrastructure shutdown led to loss of cooling, affecting internal networking and monitoring capabilities.
- Site closed to all but emergency personnel, limiting access and repair efforts.
- Standby power generator failure impacted primary signal distribution chain, including Boulder Internet Time Service.
- Alternative clocks in another building may help realign primary time scale if they survive the outage.