TORONTO – People throughout the Canadian province of Ontario awoke on Sunday (Jan 12) to a cellphone alert warning them of an “incident” at a nuclear plant just east of Toronto – only to later be told the message was a mistake.
The message, which popped up throughout the nation’s most populous province, was accompanied by a shrill emergency broadcast noise.
It said an unspecified event had occurred at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.
There was no abnormal release of radioactivity, it added, and people did not need to take protective action.
More than an hour later, utility officials sent another message saying the alert “was sent in error” and that there was “no danger to the public or environment.”
“No further action is required,” said the message, which was also sent to television screens.
The alert went out during a routine training exercise being conducted by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, Ontario solicitor-general Sylvia Jones said in a statement that apologised for the mistake.
She said the government had started “a full investigation to determine how this error happened and will take the appropriate steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Jim Vlahos, a 44-year-old father of two in Toronto, awoke to the alert and quickly made a hotel reservation nearly 100km away in Niagara Falls.
He said he figured he would go as far west as possible and then cross the border.
“Having watched Chernobyl didn’t help,” he said, referring to the HBO show about the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union.
“The lack of communication following the alert didn’t help either,” he said.
“I have no problem leaving my phone on for these types of alerts,” Vlahos said.
“But I would expect some more info from the government so I wouldn’t have to overreact the way I did.”
https://twitter.com/tia_forstner/status/1216336784050794501
Me checking the map to see how close I am to Pickering #nuclear site #pickering pic.twitter.com/wo9wIIeu6M
— Just Me 🇨🇦🏕🌲🌳 (@SeptemberSafire) January 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/vote4robgill/status/1216340395933741057
Well good news, not that I was worried but #radiation levels outside the plant are totally normal, just the regular background levels.#pickering pic.twitter.com/C5G4O2QbDv
— Tom Stef (@vaughanweather) January 12, 2020
Like many of you, I was very troubled to have received that emergency alert this morning. While I am relieved that there was no actual emergency, I am upset that an error such as this occurred. I have spoken to the Province, and am demanding that a full investigation take place.
— Mayor Dave Ryan (@mayordaveryan) January 12, 2020
We’ve been advised there was no emergency at Pickering Nuclear this morning and the province-wide alert message was sent in error. I know many @CityOfToronto residents – especially those who live near Pickering – were unnecessarily alarmed by this alert.
— John Tory (@JohnTory) January 12, 2020
The big question now is how did this happen?
What is the current process that allows every cell phone in the province to receive a warning of this degree?
I hope the government shares details and looks for ways to prevent this in the future. #pickering #onpoli #nuclear https://t.co/dzEqrdTj7s
— Michael Coteau (@coteau) January 12, 2020
How do you "accidentally" issue an alert about an incident at a nuclear station?
Somebody has some 'splainng to do for getting 15 million people out of bed at 0720 on a Sunday morning.#pickering
— Tom Quiggin (@TomTSEC) January 12, 2020
Many people slept through the first alert and saw it was a false alarm by the time they woke up.
Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan said he was “very troubled” by the message.
He said on Twitter that he spoke to provincial officials and demanded an investigation.
Toronto Mayor John Tory joined him, tweeting that “there are far too many unanswered questions” about the warning that was sent across the province of 14 million people.
Terry Flynn, who teaches crisis communications at McMaster University, said there’s a danger that such an error will erode public trust.
“When we have continuous problems in these systems, then we have a lack of trust and people begin to ignore them. So that’s the biggest fallout from this scenario,” he said.
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The US Department of Homeland Security’s inspector-general recommended changes to the emergency alert system in the United States after Hawaii officials in 2018 mistakenly warned the public about a nonexistent incoming ballistic missile.
An employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent the missile alert to cellphones and broadcasters, triggering panic until the agency sent another message 38 minutes later notifying people it was a false alarm.
Pickering, which opened in 1971, was scheduled to be decommissioned this year, but the provincial government committed to keeping it open until 2024. Decommissioning is now set to start in 2028.
It generates 14 per cent of Ontario’s electricity and is responsible for 4,500 jobs across the region, according to Ontario Power Generation.
The station has experienced several earlier incidents. In 2011, a pump seal failure caused the spill of more than 73,000 litres of demineralised water into Lake Ontario, though with no significant risks to public health, according to local authorities.
In 1994, the plant automatically shut down after a faulty valve caused 130 or so tonnes of heavy water to spill. It was the first time a Canadian nuclear reactor had to use its emergency core cooling system to prevent fuel overheating.
Ontario Power “has a sophisticated and robust notification process in place that we would immediately follow in the unlikely event of an incident at the station,” said chief nuclear officer Sean Granville.
“I want to assure the public that there was no incident at the station, and the plant is operating as designed.”
