Oak Ridge Today

You may hear Y-12 sirens when maintenance performed

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There will be maintenance work on the public warning siren system in Oak Ridge during the week of January 23, and people in the area might occasionally hear audio from individual sirens around the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The sirens are strategically placed to notify the public in the unlikely event of an on-site emergency that has impacts beyond the site boundary.

In case of an actual emergency on the Oak Ridge Reservation, sirens will sound simultaneously with the standard tone.

For more information about what to do in the event of an emergency visit the Y-12 website at www.y12.doe.gov/about/emergency-public-information.

Recent sirens were false alarms at ORNL

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DOE Warning Siren

Several readers have asked why sirens went off in Oak Ridge early Friday, January 20.

On Tuesday, Oak Ridge National Laboratory said three sirens at the lab were unintentionally activated for about 45 seconds during the daily alarm test just before 6 a.m. Friday, January 20. Only the sirens on the ORNL site were affected, ORNL spokesperson David Keim said.

The sirens at other DOE sites and within the city were unaffected, but ORNL immediately notified the city and other U.S. Department of Energy sites of the false alarm at the lab, Keim said. [Read more…]

Y-12 sirens being replaced, tested today

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Sirens may sound several times between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Oak Ridge today as the Y-12 Public Warning Siren System is tested as part of a system replacement.

A B&W Y-12 press release said the vendor, American Signal, might sound each siren separately—and possibly more than once—to verify that it works properly.

[Read more…]