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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:01 PM Dec 2014

Britain's atomic power plants 'could be attacked by drones'

Source: Independent

Nuclear power stations are highly vulnerable to drone attack, according to a confidential report that British ministers are being urged to consider.

Compiled by a British nuclear expert, John Large, the report followed a number of unexplained, but apparently co-ordinated, flights of tiny, unmanned vehicles over French nuclear installations. The grave issues uncovered there, said Mr Large, were equally relevant to the UK's 16 operational reactors, which generate about 18 per cent of the country's electricity.

In public evidence to the French parliament, Mr Large said he set the defences of a standard nuclear power plant against different types of attack that could be launched by drones, such as precisely placed explosive devices and the dropping off of equipment that would aid an insider saboteur.

Existing nuclear power plants, he said, were not designed to counter the threat of "near-cyborg technology". He warned: "In each of the four… attack scenarios that I examined, the plant fared very badly indeed – if these scenarios had been for real, then there would have been the potential for a major radioactive release."

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Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-atomic-power-plants-could-be-attacked-by-drones-9938086.html

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PSPS

(13,595 posts)
1. I guess the UK isn't as celebrity-obsessed as the US
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:26 PM
Dec 2014

I mean, what can you do to get people's minds "right" what with the upcoming UK elections and the pressing for release of their own torture report? The UK's press apparently can't be "filled up" with a bad Hollywood movie's thinly-veiled promotional campaign (complete with non-credited performance by the president!)

Brother Buzz

(36,428 posts)
4. Perhaps a drone armed with a an air-to-ground missile....
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:08 PM
Dec 2014

equipped with a tandem shaped-charge warhead would punch through the containment building like a hot knife through butter.

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
5. A drone attack wouldn't target the containment vessel
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 03:14 PM
Dec 2014

Ancillary control equipment outside the containment presents much softer targets. With good intelligence and a precision strike, the knock-on damage could be more serious than a simple containment breach, with far lower explosive requirements.

 

7962

(11,841 posts)
7. I agree. I cant see a drone being able to carry anything that could cause a catastprophe
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 04:51 PM
Dec 2014

That doesnt mean that some type of air defense against drones shouldnt be implemented. Some type of localized jamming that would prevent a drone from being controllable over the site?

Also, off topic, your video also shows how a plane can "disappear" when it crashes at high speed. For those who say the jet in PA on 9/11 didnt actually crash there because there arent huge pieces left.

Trillo

(9,154 posts)
6. The new name for UFOs?
Sun Dec 21, 2014, 04:35 PM
Dec 2014

Drones. Kind of like Zombies.

Someday our leaders will realize that nuclear power was a big mistake. So far it seems the power of money trumps good sense.

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