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Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

thestar.com

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Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#51

Post by chiph »

Scoundreller wrote: post #41
52-6F-62 wrote: post #40

Because of this alert I actually learned that Ontario Power Generation and the city of Toronto offer free Potassium Iodine pills to anyone living within 50km of the reactor in case of a radiation leak: https://preparetobesafe.ca

> How many pills should I have on hand? > Each adult in the household should have 4 pills available, and each child should have two pills available. This is enough for 2 days supply. Is this enough? The radioactive half life of I-?131? is 8 days. Or is the dose so high that you won't uptake any from the environment for a while?

Presumably you have evacuated by then.

There is more info available here:

https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness/about-emerg...

and here, about dosing: (pdf warning)

https://www.fda.gov/media/72510/download

Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#52

Post by Scoundreller »

gpm wrote: post #45
Scoundreller wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many pills should I have on hand? > Each adult in the household should have 4 pills available, and each child should have two pills available. This is enough for 2 days supply. Is this enough? The radioactive half life of I-?131? is 8 days. Or is the dose so high that you won't uptake any from the environment for a while?

Or are they counting on their ability to distribute more pills within 2 days.

Seems like a strange situation to hope for the best and cut costs.

Maybe I underestimate the cost of iodine.

I suspect they were worried about people getting free iodine for their meth labs and nuclear safety somehow lost to that battle...

Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#53

Post by zenexer »

ghaff wrote: post #13
tenpies wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even that, the deaths and injuries are immediate for drivers. Canada implemented this in the worst way possible so that any alert gets the highest alert setting possible (Presidential: what would normally be reserved for an imminent attack) - bypassing silence, do not disturb, and any volume or device setting. So Imagine a truck driver at 3 am being suddenly startled by the blaring alert and then scrambling to sh…

In the US, I assumed most people turn AMBER alerts off on their phones. Some people seem to get mad about people disabling them but some people get mad at just about everything.

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone near me in the US who has even thought to disable it. We might get one alert every few years.

Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#54

Post by ghaff »

zenexer wrote: post #53
ghaff wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, I assumed most people turn AMBER alerts off on their phones. Some people seem to get mad about people disabling them but some people get mad at just about everything.

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone near me in the US who has even thought to disable it. We might get one alert every few years.

I used to get them once a month or so. I disabled them.

Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#55

Post by toper-centage »

ghaff wrote: post #54
zenexer wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone near me in the US who has even thought to disable it. We might get one alert every few years.

I used to get them once a month or so. I disabled them.

As with most good things, if it's abused, it stops working as intended.

Re: Toronto area sent nuclear alerts by mistake

#56

Post by rezgi »

blondin wrote: post #37
GhostVII wrote: post #11

Even if it was not a mistake, why would they send a presedential alert to the entire province just to tell them that people 10km away from the nuclear plant are in no danger? Pretty absurd, wish I could fully disable these alerts until the government is actually competently using them.

i am not sure i understand the reactions here... why are people mad? the first message was very reasonable. it even said there is "no danger". to check with media and authorities. the second said the first was human error. if i were driving, i would stop the car, call 911 and ask if anything was going on. they would probably say no, then i would be on my way. instead there is now an investigation, and someone who is…

> call 911 and ask

Calls to 911 usually take 2-5 minutes for anyone to answer in Toronto when there is nothing particular going on (not kidding you, there is a message playing in the meantime like "we'll answer soon, please hold") because the govt is so hellbent on cutting costs that the emergency lines are understaffed. So imagine what happens when everyone does that... No operators for 15 minutes for anyone. Ontario really has become a ridiculous place.

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