The Dominion Virginia Energy North Anna finally shut off the sirens used in case of emergency, new improved system already implemented

FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia — Since 1978, the Dominion Virginia Energy North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County has been pumping out energy. In case of an emergency, sirens have been in place during that time.

The state said Wednesday that the emergency sirens would no longer be used. As of Wednesday, the new improved system was already in place and active.

The siren-based alert system has been replaced by the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, which, according to a news release from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, “has two ways to alert the public to an emergency at the nuclear power stations.”

In the past, North Anna and Surry, the state’s two nuclear power plants, have tested their emergency alert sirens every three months in a 10-mile radius around the plants. The North Anna plant is in Louisa, but Lake Anna, which goes into Orange and Spotsylvania counties, is all around it. On the other side of Jamestown, on the banks of the James River, is the Surry Nuclear Power station.

Now, people who live within that distance of the nuclear plants will get two kinds of warnings. The IPAWS system will send emergency alerts wirelessly to cell phones. The alerts will also be sent to TV and radio stations, which will then broadcast them.

The department of emergency management said that it will no longer do tests every three months. Instead, it will do “frequent operational tests” more often. During these tests, alerts will not be sent to phones.

The emergency department compared the new alert system to Amber and severe weather alerts and said that it was “made for this purpose by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”