Greenpeace crash Superman-like drone into French nuclear plant (VIDEO)

While it may not have been moving faster than a speeding bullet, Greenpeace activists successfully crashed a Superman-shaped drone into a French nuclear plant as part of their efforts to highlight the site’s security flaws.

Video of the incident released Tuesday was taken at the state-controlled EDF’s Bugey nuclear plant near Lyon, where a member of the environmental activist group successfully piloted the drone through the facility’s no-fly zone. The drone crashed against the wall of the plant’s spent-fuel pool building and plummeted to the ground like a kryptonite balloon.

According to Greenpeace: “This action highlights the extreme vulnerability of this type of buildings, which contain the highest amount of radioactivity in nuclear plants.”

France generates 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear power in 19 nuclear plants operated by EDF, Reuters reported.

READ MORE: ‘Sword of Damocles’: French, Belgian power plants vulnerable to attacks – Greenpeace

EDF reported that two drones had flown over the Bugey site during the incident, with one successfully intercepted by French police. A police complaint about the incident will be filed by the organisation.

EDF reported that two drones had flown over the Bugey site during the incident, with one successfully intercepted by French police. A police complaint about the incident will be filed by the organisation.

Insisting that the presence of the two drones "had no impact on the security of the installations,” EDF claims that their spent-fuel pool buildings are robust enough to withstand natural disasters and accidents.

Greenpeace, meanwhile, insists that the sites remain extremely vulnerable to outside attack, with the spent-fuel pools at particular risk, as they contain the equivalent of several reactor cores, stored in concrete pools outside the highly reinforced reactor building.

In order for these facilities to be more secure, the spent-fuel pool buildings must “be turned into bunkers,” according to Greenpeace France’s chief nuclear campaigner Yannick Rousselet.

The group has also countered EDF’s claims that police intercepted one of the drones, claiming on Twitter that it was “crashed voluntarily."

The superhuman stunt is one of many recent actions by Greenpeace activists at French nuclear facilities made to highlight security concerns.

In October, a group of activists broke into EDF’s Cattenom nuclear plant near the border with Luxembourg, breaking through two security barriers and launching fireworks over the plant.

Last week, 19 Greenpeace activists were handed suspended sentences for another incursion, this time at the Cruas power plant in the southern Ardeche region in November 2017.

The group was also fined €50,000 ($58,300) by a French court in February in order to pay damages to EDF.

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