False alarm at Pickering Nuclear Generating Station gets mixed reaction from students

By Connor Robinson ^[1]

BELLEVILLE – Quinte area residents are reacting to a false alarm early Sunday morning when a public service alert notified millions of people that an incident was reported at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

Hours later Ontario Power Generation ^[2] sent out another alert to let people know that there was not an active nuclear emergency.

Brady Poirer, a student in the Customs Border Services program at Loyalist College said the incident causes an overreaction, but it is still necessary.

“I think there is definitely a fear factor right away when it happens, especially at a time like right now with the whole Iran crisis going on with the US and ourselves. So I definitely think it could have that effect on people, ” he said.

The possibility of this false alarm having a “Cry Wolf” effect ^[3] is real. This is when an emergency is overstated, resulting in apathy the next time. People also lose trust in the emergency system.

“I think it could but I think it’s also up to the general public to put their convenience aside when it comes to the general safety of the population,” he said

Julia West, who is in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program said it was not that scary.

” It was an hour and a half away from where I am so I wasn’t too alarmed but I mean I was, ” she said.

Danette Sagriff, a student in the Paralegal program, was awakened by the first alarm and the second alarm sent out to cancel the first alarm.

“The alarms came in the middle of the night while I was asleep so they didn’t really scare me,” she said.

On Sunday, at around 7:30 a.m., an emergency alert was sent out warning people of a incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Just past 9:00 a.m. retracting the previous alert.

” There is NO active nuclear situation taking place at the Pickering Nuclear Generation Station. The previous alert was issued in error. There is no danger to the public or the environment. No further action is required,” it stated.

The plant was opened in 1971 with A Station while B Station was opened in 1983. The plant is one of the oldest nuclear power plants in existence and the third biggest in Canada. It currently has six operational reactors producing a combined 3,094 MW.

Ontario Power Generation’s Chief Nuclear Officer Sean Granville said in a press release ^[4] that “OPG has a sophisticated and robust notification process in place that we would immediately follow in the unlikely event of an incident at the station, and the plant is operating as designed.”

While Ontario’s solicitor general, Sylvia Jones had this to say

“There was no incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station that should have triggered the public notification. Nor was there ever any danger to the public or environment,” he said in a press release.