Canadians waking up to disturbing, but false alert - Pickering (near Toronto) nuke plant issue

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

https://globalnews.ca/news/6400665/pickering-nuclear-generating-station-emergency-alert/

The Ontario government has issued an emergency alert to residents who live within 10 kilometres of the Pickering nuclear generating station east of Toronto.

An incident was reported at the station. The alert was issued at 7:24 a.m. ET on Sunday.

"There has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation," the alert reads.

</snip>

Alert sent in error:

Link to tweet

[hatrack]

1. Whole lotta nothing so far . . . .

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pickering-nuclear-generating-station-1.5424115

[demmiblue]

2. CP24 @CP24 UPDATE: Pickering's Fire Chief says he was told by the province that the Pickering...

Link to tweet

[Dennis Donovan]

5. Updated the OP w/ this info

Thanks!

[demmiblue]

6. De nada!

What a way to wake up on a Sunday morning!

[Hortensis]

3. 2018: "Hacking of Ontario's nuclear plants "a very serious question," says Premier"

"The growing range of threats to aging, high-risk facilities like the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station now includes cyber attacks"

Cyber warfare was inevitably my first thought coming after the assassination, so I googled Pickering etc and cyber and grabbed this. It could easily be something else, but we should also remember Iran's and its allies' growing use of cyber, Allah's gift to equalize warfare.

Now Toronto: The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is the fourth oldest nuclear station in North America and one of the largest. It relies on systems – including computer systems – designed in the 1960s and 70s. Many experts have noted that the station has fundamental design flaws that would be unacceptable in newer facilities.

Meanwhile, the Pickering station is surrounded by more people within 30 kilometres than any other nuclear plant on the continent. It is highly questionable whether such a station would ever be built in a location like this today. This is partly because we understand the growing range of threats to such high-risk facilities, including now from cyber attacks.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said on March 16 that she considers the possibility of Russians hacking into Ontario's nuclear plants "a very serious question" and "something that we are obviously constantly asking about and making sure that all precautions are being taken,” after the New York Times reported that Russian operatives have successfully hacked into the control rooms of civilian nuclear power plants in the United States and in several European countries since 2015.

No sabotage was carried out, but according to computer screenshots released by the Department of Homeland Security, Russian hackers, says the Times report, "had the foothold they would have needed to manipulate or shutdown power plants," as well as water and electricity systems.

The best precaution against a nuclear cyber attack would be to shutdown Pickering when its license expires in August.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/hacking-ontario-nuclear-plants-a-very-serious-question/

[applegrove]

7. I got the alerts all morning. They kept saying it was not serious. Different

feeling than a nuclear meltdown which happened when my brother was living in Japan a few years ago. Don't know why the cell phone alerts lasted so long. I guess they wanted to be safe rather than sorry and i'm glad for that.