Ontario Power Generation issued (evidently in error) an alert message at the semi-unghodly hour of 7:24 on this Sunday morning, to the effect there had been some sort of ... INCIDENT ... at the massive Pickering Nuclear Power Plant (just east of Toronto) early today.*
Maybe.
A couple of hours after the initial message, the alert was more or less retracted: it had, we were now told, been sent out in error. Yeah, right. Who are you going to believe, Ontario Power Generation or Patrick Nielsen Hayden?†
Lorna and I were discussing the situation over breakfast when I realized what very well might be the horrible truth: amongst our favourite dishes are cervelles au buerre noir (calves' brains, lightly breaded and fried and then served with browned butter) and beyin salatası (Turkish cold-brains salad).
Could the reason we aren't hiding under our bed today be because we have somehow become... naaahhh.
*The emergency alert seems almost to have been calculated to maximize fear and concern while minimizing efficiency and information transfer. Lorna tells me the French-language version of the message was if anything even less coherent and useful.
†Ignore the fact PNH's tweet was issued more than 30 minutes before the warning-that-wasn't alert. There is nothing to see here. MOVE ON.
2 comments:
The communication of the alert and the retraction were a classic example of how not to do it. As you know, I live about a klick of the plant and I found out about the alert when I got a FaceBook message from a niece in Sault Ste. Marie. (I got the actual alert text about five minutes later). I never did get the retraction, although Nancy did.
Somebody needs to update their process documentation.
I do wonder what effect this has had on the value of my house.
Lorna says the government issued 32,000 potassium iodide tablets in the two days following the screw-up. How not to do it indeed.
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