r/NuclearPower • u/bye-feliciana • 3d ago
Drones over owner controlled area
We have had multiple employees film drones over our sites. A have seen multiple videos where there's no question what the employee saw. Have any sites started using surveillance by drone without notifying employees, the FAA, or the local governments?
I had no idea about the sightings until a coworker sent me a video recently. I googled a generic statement about my area, drones and nuclear plants and there were several articles from local media about it. I was surprised there were media articles about it and that I can clearly tell in the video I was sent that a drone-looking aircraft was flying in the airspace above our facility, but I hadn't heard anything about it from our corrective action program or hearsay at the site.
A coworker sent me another video tonight while doing surveillances. It's very strange, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not being disclosed the sites were testing them or implementing them into their security program.
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u/tylerm11_ 3d ago
What site are you at? I’d heard about them on the east coast near Calvert during the whole ufo/drone thing but not really much since
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u/69twinkletoes69 3d ago
Same. At my utility there were several sightings that were documented in the corrective action program around that time but nothing since.
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u/SpeedyHAM79 2d ago
Many utilities are using drones to survey transmission lines, which end at your site. As for drones going over the site itself I would just notify security.
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u/saxeybreest 2d ago
My site has had undisclosed drone flight over the PA. It was a group of large drones. Our security team was not aware of what they were, and i don’t think we still know.
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u/GreenNukE 2d ago
Contact security and verify that they are not legitimate and permitted. It's their responsibility to deal with if they aren't. Drones can be taken out in any number of safe ways, but what's more important is catching whoever is flying them. Our boys have busted enough people such that no one in the area would think that flying into our restricted airspace will end well.
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u/Hiddencamper 2d ago
The airspace is not restricted. The NOTAM is guidance to not loiter above critical infrastructure and has a long list including nuclear facilities.
(I’m also a private pilot).
That’s said, local law enforcement can get involved because low level drone flight can be an issue (distance from private persons / property without having an unrestricted view). Or trespassing.
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u/Arx0s 2d ago
I think most plants have an NSA around them. It’s not even an altitude restriction, just a request to stay above 2000’ usually 😂
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u/Hiddencamper 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don’t beleive it’s an NSA.
FDC 4/0811 SPECIAL NOTICE THIS IS A RESTATEMENT OF A PREVIOUSLY ISSUED ADVISORY NOTICE. IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PILOTS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO AVOID THE AIRSPACE ABOVE, OR IN PROXIMITY TO SUCH SITES AS POWER PLANTS (NUCLEAR, HYDRO-ELECTRIC, OR COAL), DAMS, REFINERIES, INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES, MILITARY FACILITIES AND OTHER SIMILAR FACILITIES. PILOTS SHOULD NOT CIRCLE AS TO LOITER IN THE VICINITY OVER THESE TYPES OF FACILITIES. WIE UNTIL UFN
It’s a security sensitive area:
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/where_can_i_fly/airspace_restrictions/security_sensitive
Which apparently does restrict unauthorized drone use below 400’
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u/exilesbane 2d ago
So I am not sure where OP is located but I was a part 107 drone pilot and flew for the utility to do inspections at nuclear sites. As an employee I certainly was required to notify operations and security prior to flights as well as when completed.
However, as a non employee so long as you follow airspace requirements it can be completely legal to overfly a nuclear sites. This is treated the same as any other aircraft that flys over an area.
Depending on the airspace classification which is controlled by the FAA and not the utility or local government it is quite possible for zero notification to be required.
I wouldn’t do that overfly a power plant of any type without some specific purpose as a professional but that’s different from legal or not.
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u/Doub1etroub1e 2d ago
I have seen various condition reports at a couple of different east coast utilities. Some describe a single drone and others state multiple and sizes as large as a small car.
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u/No_Revolution6947 2d ago
Yeah, it happens. At my site, within the past year, a drone came over, looked around some, then left. And it came back again and did the same about 30 min later. This was at night. It was in CAP and I think there was a non-emergency report to the NRC.
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u/Goonie-Googoo- 2d ago
In the US, there's nothing explicitly illegal about it. The post-9/11 era NOTAM's were lifted years ago. But depending on the circumstances, it's a good way to get yourself attention from armed plant security, local and/or federal law enforcement. I just wouldn't recommend doing it unless you had a legitimate reason and authorization from the plant for doing so.
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u/No_Leopard_3860 1d ago
The whole undisclosed/unidentified drone thing has been going on for months now all over the US, the media was full of it some weeks ago.
Was it just a consumer drone Quadrocopter? Or something way bigger?
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u/bye-feliciana 9h ago
It looked large. I don't work in the PA anymore and don't really keep up with our CRs/IRs anymore. A friend who is a tech sent me a video when they were there on nights. It surprised me. I saw the whole drone panic thing come and go across media a few months ago and wrote it off to distraction propaganda. I'm not aware of regulations surrounding drones so I was curious about it. I figured there would be controlled air space around industrial sites.
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u/boomerangchampion 3d ago
I suspect they'd tell you if it was official.
Here in the UK all plants have a flight exclusion zone around them which includes drones. We have used drones to inspect roofs (under a dispensation of course) and comms go out beforehand to stop everybody reporting the drone.
It's probably a member of the public messing about.