Handheld Jammers
A system has been put in place to detect and roll back illegal drones flying around five nuclear power plants in Korea -- Kori, Saeul, Wolseong, Hanul, and Hanbit.
Korea’s Nuclear Safety Commission said on July 2 that it completed the introduction of drone detection equipment for the nuclear power plants in June to protect them from drone threats at these nuclear plants. It has introduced the drone detection equipment against threats designated in the fifth design standards since 2021.
As a result, when a drone is turned on within about 3 kilometers of one of the five nuclear power plant sites, an RF scanner can detect the frequency and determine that the drone is flying and where it is. This information can be seen in the nuclear power plant situation room.
Five to 10 handheld jammers have also been given to security at the five nuclear power plants. If those at the situation room recognize a drone flight, security personnel will neutralize it and request support from the military, the police and fire departments if necessary.
Currently, the Aviation Safety Act designates a 19-kilometer area around a nuclear power plant as a no-fly zone, requiring prior approval for a drone flight in that area. If a person flies a drone without authorization, that person can be fined or criminally prosecuted for violating the act.
However, unauthorized flights of recreational drones have not disappeared in coastal areas around nuclear power plants. As the drone detection system began to be introduced in earnest in 2022, 107 drone flights were detected in 2022 around the Kori Nuclear Power Plant alone where the system was introduced first. This year, 70 drone flights had been detected near all of the five nuclear power plant areas through April.