Error Triggers Report of Trouble at A-Plant

A cable TV carrier erroneously reported a nuclear emergency at the San Onofre nuclear generating plant Wednesday, prompting more than 100 south Orange County residents to call law enforcement and energy officials to find out what was happening.

The error was triggered by a routine annual test of the plant’s 49 warning sirens within the 10-mile radius that includes Dana Point, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and parts of San Diego County, said Dick Waterman, a spokesman for Cox Communications, Orange County.

Ordinarily, he said, viewers of Cox’s 45 channels in the area are alerted by a written message scrolling across their TV screens that the sirens are part of a test. At 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, however, an encoded signal from a San Clemente radio station automatically triggered the wrong message, announcing instead that there was an emergency.

“It’s one of those kinds of things that you sure hope doesn’t happen,” Waterman said. “We’re not trying to put any blame on anybody on this, but we don’t feel that any blame should be put on us, either.”