Nuclear security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doel_Nuclear_Power_Station
Drone spotted over Belgium
nuclear plant
December 21, 2014 -
1:07PM
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.
"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.
"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
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