Sirens sound at Harris Nuclear Plant, but county authorities claim there’s no emergency.
WRAL News received reports of sirens sounding at the Harris Nuclear Plant on Monday morning. County authorities claimed there is no emergency, and Duke Energy officials are investigating why the sirens were sounded.
Duke Energy and county authorities will test the sirens at the New Hill nuclear reactor on Wednesday. However, many locals were anxious Monday morning when they heard sirens sounding at the facility.
On Wednesday, July 10, between 10 and 11 a.m., the 85 outdoor warning sirens surrounding Harris Nuclear Plant will be tested for five to 30 seconds each.
However, WRAL News heard reports of sirens going off on Monday morning. County officials stated that there is no emergency but did not explain why the sirens went off. At 8:35 a.m., a public safety alert went out:
Wake County says that the emergency warning system at the Duke Energy Harris Nuclear Plant, located southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been activated via siren. There is no emergency. The public does not need to take any precautionary steps.”
Duke Energy confirmed that certain emergency warning sirens were mistakenly activated in the emergency planning zone surrounding Harris Nuclear Plant on Monday morning.
“The plant is operating safely,” Duke Energy told WRAL News. “There is no emergency at the plant.”
Duke Energy stated that it is collaborating with municipal, county, and state emergency management to establish the reason for the siren activation.
“False alarm or not, we do take this seriously,” said Jason Wheatley, a Duke Energy spokeswoman. “If there is a false alert, we want to know why it occurred and what we can do to prevent it in the future.
“We are going to investigate thoroughly, figure out what happened, and find a way to prevent that from happening again in the future.”
The sirens will be tested on Wednesday, as scheduled. Some sirens may need to be tested many times to assure good operation. Testing is carried out in collaboration with emergency personnel from Chatham, Harnett, Lee, and Wake counties.
Because this is a test, local broadcasters will not stop their usual programming to transmit Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages. If there was a true emergency at the facility that required the sirens to be activated, local radio and television stations would broadcast information and directions to the public.
