McGuire Nuclear Station sirens sounded accidentally. No emergency at plant.
Sirens for Duke Energy’s McGuire Nuclear Station sounded at full volume around 10 a.m. Thursday during what was supposed to be a silent test, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management.
There was no emergency at the nuclear plant, Duke Energy spokesperson Anne McGovern said.
McGuire Nuclear Station is off of N.C. 73 in Huntersville on the southern end of Lake Norman. There are 67 sirens within 10 miles of McGuire Nuclear Station. Charlotte Fire Communications sounded the alarms, an emergency management news release said. But it wasn’t immediately clear whether all or some of the 67 alarms sounded.
Duke Energy said sirens were tested at McGuire and its Catawba Nuclear Station in York County, South Carolina, on Jan. 11. Then, a Duke Energy news release said the sirens would sound for five to 30 seconds. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management initially said Thursday was intended to be a silent test and that the sirens malfunctioned. The agency corrected its original statement later to say there was no malfunction and that someone accidentally sounded the sirens.
Sirens are the primary outdoor warning system for alerting the public of an emergency, Duke Energy said. Silent tests usually occur weekly, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management said.
But if there were a real emergency at the plant requiring the sirens to be sounded, local radio and TV stations would broadcast information and instructions to the public.
Emergency management and Duke Energy officials worked Thursday to notify residents, businesses and other agencies the alarms sounded inadvertently.
Denver resident recalls sirens sounding
James Lamb said he, his wife and their year-and-a-half-old daughter were at home in Denver in eastern Lincoln County when they heard the sirens. The couple’s 6-year-old son was at school.
McGuire is about 5 miles from their home, he said. The sirens seemed strange because they were tested just last week, Lamb told The Charlotte Observer.
The family has a weather radio from living in tornado-prone Mississippi for eight years, he said, and they heard nothing on it Thursday about any incident at McGuire. They checked news websites. Still nothing.
Residents on their neighborhood Facebook page also wondered what was happening.
Finally, about 10 minutes after the sirens sounded, the Denver Fire Department reported on Facebook that all was clear, he said.
“Definitely had us worried there for a minute,” Lamb told The Charlotte Observer.
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 11:05 AM.
