Wearing protective suits and masks, a Japanese journalist heads for the central control room for the unit one and unit two reactors during U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy's visit to the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant at Okuma t
Wearing protective suits and masks, a Japanese journalist heads for the central control room for the unit one and unit two reactors during U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy's visit to the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture May 14, 2014. REUTERS/Toru Yamanaka/Pool (JAPAN - Tags: POLITICS DISASTER ENVIRONMENT ENERGY MEDIA) REUTERS/Toru Yamanaka/Pool

France has ordered an investigation into the incident of unidentified drones having flown over its nuclear plants, which are operated by state-owned EDF. This was announced by the interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who told France Info radio that a judicial investigation is under way and measures are being taken to know what these drones are and steps to neutralise them". But the minister did not specify the measures for it.

The BBC reported that the unmanned aerial surveillance was detected by French authorities when 7 nuclear plants across the country were flown over by drones between October 5 and October 20. According to the EDF spokeswoman, " the drone activity did not make any impact on the plants' safety or functioning."

Concerns About Safety

The repeated drone sightings raised concerns about the safety of nuclear plants. France is world's most nuclear-reliant country with 58 reactors operating in 19 sites. France generates 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear sources. An open breach of nuclear plant security happened in January this year, when activists from environmental campaign group "Greenpeace" stormed the Fessenheim plant on the German border. But Greenpeace denied any role in the current drone flight activity.

Green Pace Denies Role

Yannick Rousselet, head of Greenpeace's anti-nuclear campaign said in a statement that "Greenpeace always acts openly and takes responsibility" added a Guardian report. Rousselet said what is now happening is "worrying" and added that France's nuclear research institute CEA near Paris had also been flown over, citing his own sources. According to Russian News agency RT, the pilotless aircraft flew in direct contravention of rules relating to proximity on nuclear facilities. The norm is that fly-overs should not occur at altitudes less than 1,000 meters and in distances less than 5 kilometers from the plant.

EDF has named the plants where drones were spotted. They included Creys-Malville. Bugey, Blayais, Cattenom, Chooz, Gravelines and Nogent-sur-Seine that is closest to Paris. According to sources, the unmanned aircraft were spotted late in the evening, night and early in the morning despite the areas being designated as protected zones. All the nuclear plants have filed separate complaints with the police against the anonymous people who were behind the drone flights.