[Fair use for education and research purpose only]

Title: 34 Peach Bottom sirens set off accidentally

Source: Lancaster New Era Lancaster, PA Publication date: 2000-05-02

It was not a test.

Emergency sirens from the Peach Bottom nuclear plant were accidentally activated at 2:45 this morning in Lancaster and York counties, and Harford County, Md.

The ominous sounds prompted more than 100 York County residents to place nervous phone calls to emergency officials in the middle of the night. But in Lancaster County, where five sirens went off, only one person from the Pequea area called 911.

In all, 34 sirens -- designed to alert residents within a 10-mile radius of Peach Bottom about a serious nuclear accident -- went off for up to three minutes, said Michael Wood, a spokesman for PECO Energy Co., Peach Bottom's owner.

The sirens were activated after an operator in York County's emergency management office noticed a computer glitch in the software program that controls the sirens, Wood said.

Trying to correct the problem, the operator "incorrectly activated the sirens," he said.

PECO officials said this morning they are looking at procedures to prevent the incident from happening again.

Peach Bottom's network of 97 pole-mounted sirens is tested on the first Wednesday of each month at 2 p.m. "Any other time, it should be an eye opener" when the sirens go off, Wood noted.

In Lancaster County, sirens are in Drumore, East Drumore, Fulton, Little Britain, Martic and Providence townships, as well as Quarryville Borough.

) 2000, YellowBrix, Inc.

http://realcities.yellowbrix.com/pages/realcities/Story.nsp?story_id=10307996&site=charlotte&ID=realcities&scategory=Computers%3AY2K

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 03, 2000