Ontario Power Generation says an alert about an incident at the Pickering nuclear generating station east of Toronto early Sunday was sent “in error.”
“There is no danger to the public or environment,” OPG said in the tweet.
The alert, which was issued provincewide at 7:24 a.m. ET, applied to residents who live within 10 kilometres of the generation station.
According to the alert, an incident was reported at the station.
“There has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation,” the alert read.
The alert said people who live near the station do not need to “take any protective actions at this time.”
Important update: the alert regarding <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pickering?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Pickering</a> Nuclear was sent in error. There is no danger to the public or environment.
—@opg
Premier’s office says ‘further communication’ coming
In an email on Sunday, the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed that the alert was a mistake.
“There is no safety incident and there is no danger to the public. The emergency alert was triggered in error,” Kayla Iafelice, director of media relations for the premier’s office.
We have confirmed that there is no emergency or incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, and that there is no danger to the public. The emergency alert issued by the Province earlier this morning was sent out in error.
—@CityofPickering
“Further communication will follow later this morning.”
The City of Pickering also tweeted that the alert was a mistake.
The Pickering station, in service since 1971, is one of the largest nuclear generating stations in the world and produces 14 per cent of the province’s electricity, according to Ontario Power Generation.
