Alert-Ready : Oops, Sorry About That!

EMERGENCY ALERT: This is a Province of Ontario emergency bulletin which applies to people within ten [10] kilometres of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. An incident was reported at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. There has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation. People near the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station DO NOT need to take any protective actions at this time. Remain tuned to local media for further information and instructions. 7:23 a.m. Sunday, 12 January 2020

An alert warning Ontario residents of an unspecified incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station early Sunday morning was sent in error, Ontario Power Generation said. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

"There is NO active nuclear situation taking place at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station."
"The previous alert was issued in error."
"There is no danger to the public or environment. No further action is required."
Correction of provincial emergency alert -- Provincial Emergency Operations Centre

"I had no idea what was going on, so I contacted my counterpart [at the nuclear station]."
"They weren't aware of anything, so they were very puzzled. we were trying to figure out what was going on."
Mark Guinto, manager, public affairs, City of Pickering

"My first reaction was kind of shock to be honest with you. I thought 'I got to get to the bottom of this'."
"There's definitely some concern about it [the original province-wide alert]."
"We want people to listen when there's a real emergency going on, so yeah, it could affect long-term trust in these messages."
Fire Chief John Hagg, Pickering, Ontario

There are five nuclear plants located in and around the Province of Ontario. Theoretically, should an incident occur at one of these nuclear facilities, Ontario Power Generation would notify local and provincial governments within a 15- minute time-frame. One of those who would have been notified was Mr. Guinto as manager of public affairs for Pickering, a small city just east of Toronto, where the nuclear plant was built in the 1960s.

The plant itself has sirens and possesses a detailed crisis response plan should a real event occur, though none ever has. The town's fire chief was dismayed and puzzled to see the alert on his cellphone, figuring that he would have been personally and immediately advised should something have gone awry at the plant. All he could discern from the message was that emergency staff were responding to "the situation", and that people were urged to remain vigilant awaiting further instructions.

Except that the very emergency staff who were supposed to be responding at the nuclear plant weren't, and knew nothing of the purported developing situation. This was, in essence, the country's first ever nuclear-related emergency alert under the provincial notification protocol. What was certain in the wake of an uncertain, ambiguous first alert was that it took an agonizing two hours before a second notification correcting the first was sent out.

And how strange it is that at the Pickering plant itself no one had any idea of anything amiss, and nor did anyone know what was going on. So, on a quiet Sunday in winter, it took until afternoon to unearth the explanation, that a command room in Northern Ontario where the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre has its base, was the source of the problem. Somehow a test turned into a false alarm. Emanating from a source meant to clarify and inform, this is gross ineptitude.

The emergency notification system is tested on a daily basis at the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre. Someone, somehow, sent an alert, in an obvious lax moment of freelancing to break the monotony of daily notification practise no one would be aware of other than the unpractised sender. Of course the outcome of the investigation will be another investigation where the PEOCchief of emergency management has been tasked to carry out an incident investigation.

Pickering nuclear power plant. Stan Behal / Toronto Sun

The Canadian national public alerting system, "Alert Ready" relies on software and technology developed by Pelmorex Corp., based in Oakville, a system which government officials use to issue alerts on life-threatening events like child abductions, tornadoes or floods. "This would be the first time there has been a nuclear emergency alert", noted the director of public alerting at Pelmorex, Martin Belanger, who also noted that it became mandatory in 2018 for all wireless devices connected to a 4G network to issue alerts, as well radio and TV stations.

"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."
Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan

"[The original alert was issued in error during a routine training exercise by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre]. There was no incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station that should have triggered public notification. Nor was there ever any danger to the public or environment."
"The Government of Ontario sincerely apologizes for raising public concern and has begun a full investigation to determine how this error happened and will take the appropriate steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again."
Ontario’s Solicitor General Sylvia Jones

Ryan Pfeiffer / Torstar