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Another drone flying low over nuclear power plant – this time in Belgium

Drone spotted over Belgium nuclear plant http://www.smh.com.au/world/drone-spotted-over-belgium-nuclear-plant-20141221-12blb9.html December 21, 2014  Brussels: An unexplained drone has been spotted flying over a Belgium nuclear facility, a day after one of the plant’s reactors came back on line after a four-month closure caused by sabotage.

The mystery appearance by an unmanned aircraft on Saturday, on which Belgian authorities refused to provide much detail, resembles a spate of similar drone sightings over nuclear plants in neighbouring France this autumn.

Around 20 unidentified drones have been spotted over nuclear plants since October throughout France.

drone-near-nuclear-plant

“We can confirm that the East Flanders prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into a drone flight over the Doel nuclear plant,” a spokesman for the investigation told Belga news agency.

Advertisement  “We will not provide further information for the time being,” the spokesman added, hours after the plant’s operator, GDF-Suez unit Electrabel, first disclosed the incident, which took place early on Saturday.The imposing Doel nuclear site sits on a riverbank near the North Sea about 25 kilometres north of Antwerp. It holds four of Belgium’s seven reactors.

One of those reactors, Doel 4, was shut urgently in August after a leak, caused by tampering, resulted in a leak of 65,000 litres of oil lubricant.

A steam turbine weighing 1700 tonnes was severely damaged by the loss of lubricant, requiring a €30 million ($45 million) repair job that was carried out in Germany.

Belgian prosecutors have refused to confirm the sabotage as an act of terrorism, without excluding it either.

Agence France-Presse

December 22, 2014 - Posted by | safety

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