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The nuclear alert siren at HMS Raleigh was activated for eight minutes after somebody accidentally pressed a button, it has emerged.

The alarm adjacent to HMS Raleigh in Torpoint sounded on the evening of Tuesday, December 19, sparking concern among some local residents.

Richard Clark, deputy head of safety at the naval base, told a meeting of the Devonport Local Liaison Committee meeting that the alarm was activated inadvertently due to human error following a maintenance check.

The incident promoted a review into how the control system is operated.

(Image: Google)

In total there are eight sirens in Plymouth and Torpoint that are designed to warn staff at the naval base and dockyard in the event of a nuclear incident for the emergency procedures to be activated.

Local residents are urged to stay indoors and follow the advice issued via local media if the alarm, which is tested every Monday, is activated.

Following “command routine maintenance” on the control system, the siren adjacent to Raleigh sounded for about eight minutes at about 6pm on December 19.

The meeting heard the siren was inadvertently activated when the system was reverted back to the normal operating mode.

Mr Clark said: “An extensive technical investigation has been conducted and that’s concluded that the siren was activated due to human error.

“The control system has an automatic timer which looks a little bit like the digital control panel of your central heating system at home.

“We believe that on returning the control system back to line up after reprogramming it, it would appear that one of the buttons was pressed incorrectly, which effectively put the automatic system for the Raleigh siren to manual and in the ‘on’ position.

“The icon on the LED screen was not seen by the maintainer when he returned the system to normal line up.”