Hey! Coming to you guys today to introduce you to a very strange thing happening lately in my country (France), thought it could be interesting to know and to look for answers or ways to counter those cheeky drones.

 

Since the 5th of October, several of our nuclear plants were flown by small drones from 50 centimeters to 2 meters of span. It's not known if they were carrying cameras or were just flying over the plants, and none knows who did that and why. One interesting detail is that it is not an isolated event, since two very distant plants were overflown by drones in the same day at the same time, pointing out an organized group acting all over the territory.

 

For the record, our nuclear plants all have a special department of our police which is charged of the security of the plant and its surroundings, staying on the area 24/7. However, they are forbidden to take down a flying object as it could crash and set something on fire, explode or worse, drones included. So, since they can't do anything, we can just witness those drones flying over the plants without being able to do anything on the moment. Greenpeace was first suspected to be the author of those events, however they denied being implied in this affair.

 

The most common fear amongst population is simple: if a drone can fly over our plants without the police being allowed (maybe fairly) to take it down, a terrorist organization could easily attach a small explosive device on the drone and make it explode over the targeted nuclear plant. Even though the government claims our plants are safe and could resist even to an airplane crash, it is a possibility that those drones could be scouters for further activities from those mysterious people.

 

Here you can read different articles from the press: http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/30/7135553/france-doesnt-know-whos-flying-drones-over-its-nuclear-power-plants

http://rt.com/news/200887-france-drones-nuclear-plants/

http://qz.com/289268/who-is-flying-drones-over-french-nuclear-plants/

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/31/more-drones-spotted-over-french-nuclear-power-stations

 

More links can be found on Google, for curious people. So, who do you think could be behind those events? An environmental organization such as Greenpeace or another? Or badly intentioned people? If that is an environmental organization, isn't it going too far to fly large drones over dangerous sites? And how could we possible take down those drones without risking an accident?

 

/discuss

 

EDIT: 5 other nuclear plants all over the country were overflown during a single night, on friday between 7PM and midnight.

EDIT2: The police have been allowed to shoot the drones on sight. Maybe they will be able to catch one still in shape for investigation.

Edited November 2, 201411 yr by Hystery

That depends who uses them, if it's the nuclear plant itself, the government or the people who check plants it's ok. Since crew would not have to expose themselves to radiation if somethings borken. Also they can come unannounced and check.

That depends who uses them, if it's the nuclear plant itself, the government or the people who check plants it's ok. Since crew would not have to expose themselves to radiation if somethings borken. Also they can come unannounced and check.

 

It is not the company exploiting the nuclear plant that is using the drones, hence it is quite concerning. The electricity company filed a claim to the police, as stated in one of the articles. We have no idea who is doing this and why.

Why could a drone even enter the space around the Plant ?

In Germany Nuclear Plants are protected by atleast 4 Patriot Missile systems per Plant .

Also a emergency Squadron of the Airforce (Luftwaffe) Would be there in few Minutes .

 

Why could a drone even enter the space around the Plant ?

In Germany Nuclear Plants are protected by atleast 4 Patriot Missile systems per Plant .

Also a emergency Squadron of the Airforce (Luftwaffe) Would be there in few Minutes .

 

Considering the small size of a drone, I think it would be easy for a small group of 2 or 3 persons to walk through the forest and stop nearby a nuclear site, and send the guided drone towards the plant. I doubt any radar could detect such a small object (can you imagine if they could? All radars would detect large birds and all), and visual contact is hard to make at night. Also, as I stated, police officers are forbidden to take down the drone as long as it is over the nuclear site, to avoid an accident such as a fire, an explosion, or human casualties when the drone falls down, so they would have to wait until the drone leaves the area to intervene. But even then, shooting it down might not be the proper solution, because we couldn't investigate the device to try and find evidences of who is behind those events.

I wouldn't worry about these drones having explosives or something attached to them. The "bad" part of nuclear power stations is all underground encased in thick lead containers. The only way a person could cause a massive nuclear problem at a nuclear power plant is by gaining access to the facility and turning off all the different safety mechanisms (which is what went wrong at Chernobyl) or by hoping the the power station is hit by a large, powerful earthquake, and then hit by a powerful tsunami before the damage can be repaired (Fukushima a few years ago).

Nuclear plants across the world are notorious for drawing UFOs to themselves. Drone is something new, though.

Edited November 1, 201411 yr by Troy