Alert regarding 'incident' at Canadian nuclear plant sent 'in error'

Sunday, January 12, 2020
This stock photo shows cooling towers of a nuclear power plant against the blue sky.
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TORONTO -- The Canadian province of Ontario accidentally sent out an emergency alert regarding an "incident" at a Toronto-area nuclear plant.

Authorities said there is no danger to the public at Ontario's Pickering Nuclear Generating Station after the alert was sent out to phones Sunday morning.

Ontario Power Generation later tweeted that the alert "was sent in error. There is no danger to the public or environment."

This comes two years after Hawaii emergency officials mistakenly sent out an alert of a ballistic missile headed toward the state.

The false emergency alert apparently happened because "the wrong button was pushed," Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki said in a statement.

He added, "Apparently, the wrong button was pushed and it took over 30 minutes for a correction to be announced. Parents and children panicked during those 30 minutes."