‘Incident’ Reported Sunday At Toronto Pickering Nuclear Power Plant

ONTARIO, CAN. (THECOUNT) — Officials at Toronto-area nuclear power plant sent out a frightening text to residents waring of an “incident” at the plant Sunday morning.

Cell phones in Ontario, Canada, received emergency text notifications alerting them to the unknown incident at the the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Pickering, Ont. shortly before 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

Although the message was sent out to the entire province, as is customary with the Alert Ready system, it stated that the bulletin only applies to people living within 10 kilometres of the nuclear plant.

The message said the incident was being responded to and did not involve any unusual release of radioactive material.

“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,” the notification read.

“People near the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station DO NOT need to take any protective actions at this time,” reports CTV.

Approximately 73,000 litres of demineralized water leaked from the station in 2011, causing no known impacts to human health. There were also no known adverse effects from a leak of radioactive heavy water at the plant in 2014.

DEVELOPING::

Geo quick facts: Ontario is a province in east-central Canada that borders the U.S. and the Great Lakes. It’s home to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, known for Parliament Hill’s Victorian architecture and the National Gallery, featuring Canadian and indigenous art. Toronto, Ontario’s capital, is home to the 553m-high CN Tower, with expansive views from its revolving restaurant, as well as High Park, site of a rare oak savannah habitat.