stunt was to expose how vulnerable the nuclear facility is to a terrorist attack
Greenpeace activists crashed a drone dressed as Superman into the Bugey nuclear energy plan, located around 20 miles east of Lyon, France on Tuesday.
The seemingly reckless act was to expose the how vulnerable the nuclear facility is to a terrorist attack, highlighting the dangers of this type of power generation
The activists said that the drone struck “a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel next to a reactor, one of the most radioactive areas at the site” according to AFP.
“This is a highly symbolic action: it shows that spent fuel pools are very accessible, this time from the air, and therefore extremely vulnerable to attack,” head of Greenpeace France’s anti-nuclear campaign, Yannick Rousselet said in a statement.
According to Zerohedge Greenpeace France spokesman Cyril Cornier told Le Parisien, in French, that the action itself did not pose any danger to the plant, its workers, or the public, but insisted that by crashing the flying device into the plant’s “most fragile point,” they had proven beyond any doubt that the security of the facility “is absolutely not assured.”
Responding to the action, the French electricity group EDF said that police had intercepted one of two drones piloted by Greenpeace and announced plans to file a formal complaint with authorities.
EDF also claimed, “The fuel building is key for security, designed in particular to withstand natural or accidental damage.”
Greenpeace EU, on Twitter, called EDF’s response “worrying.”
Worrying response from @EDFofficiel to @greenpeacefr’s action at the Bugey nuclear plant: they said they “intercepted 1 of the 2 drones”.
France derives about 75 percent of its electricity from 19 state-controlled plants, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Activists worldwide have repeatedly sought to draw attention to the dangers of this type of power generation—but particularly in France, where it is so prevalent.
Last October, Greenpeace France activists entered another of EDF’s nuclear plants and set off fireworks.
At the time, the group emphasized on Twitter, “These installations are vulnerable.”
AFP reports that in February, “eight activists were sentenced to jail terms or fines” for participating in the firework action.
Is it a bird? 🐦
Is it a plane? ✈️No… it’s a drone dressed up as Superman, exposing how vulnerable French #nuclear power plants are ☢️ pic.twitter.com/5mBWJxNjSa
— Greenpeace EU (@GreenpeaceEU) July 3, 2018
Worrying repsonse from @EDFofficiel to @greenpeacefr‘s action at the Bugey nuclear plant: they said they “intercepted 1 of the 2 drones”.
Reality check: 2 drones were crashed on purpose… and there was also a remote control plane they didn’t even see… 🕹️🛩️ #SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/P9wr5O7NuH
— Greenpeace EU (@GreenpeaceEU) July 3, 2018
Learning lessons from Fukushima
Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster had an impact on every single person on Earth, according to scientists.
The meltdown hit everyone on the planet with a dose of radiation, but fortunately, not enough to have a real impact.
The disaster dosed everyone on Earth with radiation equivalent to that of a single x-ray, according to the first global survey of the radiation’s effect.
In other words, a negligible amount.“
We don’t need to worry,” said Nikolas Evangeliou, according to New Scientist. He is part of the team at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research that conducted the survey.
The average person was dosed with 0.5 millisieverts of radiation from the accident.
For those in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima, the amount was much higher, at about one to five millisieverts.
It takes about 1000 millisieverts to cause radiation sickness.
The World Nuclear Association holds that no deaths or cases of radiation sickness were caused by the accident.