Drone crashes on nuclear plant site posing security threat

2016-8-22

 South Africa: South African state-owned power utility, Eskom, has reported a drone crashed on the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant site in contravention of the nuclear safety regulations and was returned to its owner without the investigation having been completed.

Eskom has subsequently suspended the Koeberg Safety officer as a precautionary measure to fully investigate the incident. The matter has also been reported to the South African Police Service as Koeberg is a National Key Point, Eskom said in a statement.

According to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), operation of a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), otherwise known as an unmanned drone, which is in contravention of privacy by-laws and other laws enforceable by other authorities, carries a legal liability, reports ESI-Africa.

Should the RPA have landed in a particularly high risk area, or interfered with any operations of the plant, damage and/or injury may have been caused to the existing equipment and infrastructure, and potentially human life.

Source: Eskom, ESI-Africa