Mysterious drone spotted over Belgian nuclear plant: Officials
The Doel nuclear plant in Belgium (File photo)
Sat Dec 20, 2014 10:34PM GMT
A
mysterious drone has been spotted in Belgium flying over a nuclear
plant one of whose reactors has come back on line following a four-month
shutdown due to sabotage, authorities say.
Belgian officials have “opened an investigation into a drone flight
over the Doel nuclear plant,” a spokesman for the investigation said on
Saturday, hours after the plant's operator GDF-Suez unit Electrabel
disclosed the incident."We will not provide further information for the time being," the spokesman added.The appearance of the unidentified drone resembles a wave of similar sightings over nuclear plants in neighboring France in recent months.
Nearly 20 unexplained drones have been spotted over French nuclear facilities since October.
The Doel nuclear facility is located on a riverbank near the North Sea some 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the Belgian city of Antwerp. It holds four out of seven reactors in the country.
One of those reactors, Doel 4, was closed in August after 65,000 liters of oil lubricant poured out in a leak caused by tampering.
Belgian officials have neither confirmed nor rejected the sabotage as an act of terrorism.
Nuclear facilities generate 55 percent of electricity in Belgium.
MSM/NN/AS