Drones over France - the neverending story

AtomInfo.Ru, PUBLISHED 10.01.2015

The owners of unknown drones appearing from last September over the French nuclear facilities are still not found. The seriousness of the problem attracted the attention of French politicians and public figures.

Hearings in Parliament

Last November the parliamentary hearings on the issue of flying drones over nuclear power plants and other nuclear objects were held in Paris. At the hearing were the representatives of the army and police, as well as experts from the nuclear and aviation industries, and even antinuclear activists.

The exact number of incidents with drones is difficult to call. It is not excluded that some of it were not reported in the press for reasons of secrecy. It is safe to say that it was at least 20 such flights.

The period of time during which the flights happened was clarified. Previously it was thought that they began in October, but now the original date is called mid-September. It is possible that it will eventually be changed - such information fluctuation is normal when it comes to matters of the security.

The most recent incident with a flight of the drones was registered on January. Unfortunately, there is no reason to say that it will be the last at all.

Radicals and radars

The events of this scale is a new phenomenon for the nuclear industry in France, and possibly the entire world. Whoever is behind it, it is obvious that it must be an organization with a high level of discipline.

The MP from the socialist Jean-Yves Le Deaut, presiding at the November hearing, was suggested that the flights can be orchestrated by some German radicals.

"Our neighbors in Germany have the radical groups. We saw them in action. They have the technical means and appropriate level of organization, allowing them to conduct such an operation," - said the MP.

However, he immediately added, there is no evidence of the involvement of German radicals to the events.

The army who shall interfere washed their hands of the event. The representative of the French said the military radars are not designed to detect objects with a mass of several kilograms, flying at low altitude.

The representatives of the military-industrial complex know about this issue. The ANGD radars are already deploying around the French NPPs, who is supposedly able to detect drones.

Threat or not

Are unknown drones a real threat to nuclear facilities? As expected, opinions on this subject differ dramatically.

The Greens speak frankly with their alarms positions, fearing in the near future of real terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants with the use of drones.

The Greens have prepared a report describing how drones could harm the plants, and gave it to the authorities.

Most of the details of the report was not disclosed, but supposedly it discusses the attack on fuel pools among other things. Of course, this is no direct impacts on pool - the scenarios have been considered leading to the loss of power and cooling.

The representatives of the aviation industry, in contrast, are more cautious in their assessments. Most importantly, there is still no clear understanding of what drones are flying above the plant. Patrick Oswald from Airbus Defense & Space suppose the drones are civil, not military units.

The Greens argue that the drones on NPP were too fast and undemanding to weather conditions for civilian vehicles. According to one story, one of the drones managed to break away and escape from a police helicopter the rushing in pursuit of it.

Topics: Security, Europe, France

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