Savannah River Site security has been given direction to take appropriate action if a drone flying above the site presents a threat, an official at the South Carolina facility told a local advisory board on Monday.
“Protocols are in place for engagement and I don’t really want to say anything else about that,” according to Michael Mikolanis, Department of Energy SRS assistant manager for infrastructure and environmental stewardship. “But the hazard has been assessed and there are protocols in place for security to engage a drone that is deemed as posing a threat.”
Members of the SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) said they aren’t satisfied with the progress made to date in securing the site from drone flyovers since the first of 12 sightings was reported nearly one year ago.
From June 19 to July 22, 2016, SRS employees reported a dozen drone sightings over sensitive areas of the site. These included: the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), which is being constructed to convert 34 metric tons of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel; H Area, where nuclear materials are processed; and E Area, where low-level waste and transuranic waste is stored.
Officials say the drones present a security and safety concern because no one knows who is flying them, or what information the person responsible might be trying to obtain. “They could be used to drop an explosive device,” CAB member Susan Corbett said during a board meeting Monday. “So this is our risk here.”
DOE spokesman Monte Volk added that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has listed SRS on the National Airspace System, which establishes the site as a national security area. That listing means pilots cannot fly lower than 2,000 feet above SRS and are asked to voluntarily avoid the site. DOE did not mention if it was able to determine how close the drones got to the site.
Agency officials are discussing the issue with the FAA to determine if drone use can be restricted above sensitive DOE facilities – specifically those listed as Category 1 sites, which house 2 or more kilograms of plutonium or uranium-233, or 5 or more kilograms of uranium-235. The department will not specify which other DOE sites house the different quantities of materials.
Since the first drone sighting last June, not enough has been done to address the matter, said CAB member Gil Allensworth. When community members approach him about the issue, Allensworth said he doesn’t know what to tell them. “Common sense says I can’t drive onto SRS without going through proper channels, but I can operate a drone over SRS as long as I’m above 400 feet,” he said. “That’s a problem and we need to figure out what to do about it.”
