Mishearing leads to nuclear plant alert

[Associated Press, Herald Times, 8 April] A security alert was recently triggered at Point Beach nuclear power plant after a conversation in a convenience store. A 23-year-old man was lost on his way to begin a new job at the plant and stopped at a nearby store to ask directions. On leaving, he told a shop worker he "hoped he wouldn't blow up the place" on his first day. He was later surprised to be questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) while his car was searched and parts of the plant briefly evacuated. The shop worker had apparently misheard the man and, worried he had said he "came to blow up the place", reported him to the police. The man, doing work under contract at the nuclear plant, said he told the shop worker "they don't allow me to push any buttons, anyway," according to a press release from the Two Rivers Police Department. No threats were found and the man will not be charged.

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