The number of drone flyovers of nuclear plants for the entire year nearly doubled in one week, from December 10th to December 17th, according to data provided to The War Zone by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Between Jan. 1 and Dec.10, nuclear facility licensees reported a total of 15 drone events. As of about 1 p.m. Dec., 17, that number had jumped to 26, NRC spokesman Dave McIntyre told The War Zone on Friday in response to our query. While the timeline overlaps with a rash of drone sightings across the country and especially in the New Jersey area - including over military installations and energy infrastructure - it is unclear at the moment what, if any, connection there is to the dramatic increase in suspicious drone events over nuclear facilities.

McIntyre told The War Zone:

"...before January 2024, nuclear power plant licensees voluntarily reported flyovers by uncrewed aerial systems, such as drones, to the Federal Aviation Administration; law enforcement (local and the FBI); and the NRC. Because reporting was voluntary, our information may not reflect the total number of UAS overflights of nuclear power plants.

"Once a flyover is reported, the NRC provides the specifics to other agencies for follow-up, including the FBI. The NRC does not investigate this type of activity once it has been reported."

We reached out to the NRC, FBI, FAA and Department of Homeland Security for more context about these flyovers. We will update this story with any pertinent information provided.

The most recent publicly known drone sightings were over the Public Service Energy & Gas (PSEG) Nuclear Salem and Hope Creek generating stations, located at Lower Alloways Creek Township, in Salem County, New Jersey.

"Yes, drones were seen in the vicinity of Salem and Hope Creek (they're the same site) last weekend," NRC spokesperson Diane Screnci told us on Dec. 20. She did not provide a specific date, but a PSE&G spokesperson issued a statement saying that a flyover occurred on Dec 14.
The Hope Creek generation station, which produces nearly half of the state's energy, was one of 22 facilities to have its airspace banned to drones by the Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 18. You can see the full list of sites where the FAA issued temporary flight restrictions (TFR) in our story about that here.

DHS said in a statement on Dec. 19:

"While DHS and our federal partners continue to see no evidence of a threat, the purpose of the TFR is to discourage drone flights around these areas, as requested by the critical infrastructure partners. DHS and other security partners routinely request the FAA establish TFRs to restrict drone flights in areas where the drones could be unsafe or pose a security risk."

The restrictions affect drones operating below 400 feet and last until Jan. 17. There is always the possibility that the timeline could be extended or additional communities have their airspace similarly closed.
On Friday, the FAA issued 68 more TFRs across New York state. As with the New Jersey TFRs, these banned drone flights over energy infrastructure.

"At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 30 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New York infrastructure. The FAA told us after the first 30 were issued. Another 38 were ordered later on Friday.

"On the NY TRFs, would refer you back to our statement and background we provided on the NJ TFRs. We continue to assess there is no public safety threat relating to the reported drone sightings, and like in NJ, the FAA issued temporary flight restrictions over some critical infrastructure facilities in NY out of an abundance of caution."

The day before, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told the media that the action was "purely precautionary; there are no threats to these sites."

Like the New Jersey TFRs, these ban virtually all drone operations below 400 feet in a one-mile radius. The restrictions last until Jan. 18.

The FAA provided locations for the first 30 of those:

Farragut Substation - Brooklyn, NY 4/9171

E 13th St. Substation - New York, NY 4/9167

EF Barrett Substation - Oceanside, NY 4/9192

Goethals Substation - Staten Island, NY 4/9186

Fresh Kills Substation - Staten Island, NY 4/9180

Roslyn Substation - Roslyn Heights, NY 4/9189

Newbridge Rd. Substation - Levittown, NY 4/9202

Ruland Rd. Substation - Melville, NY 4/9194

Hunt Point Compressor Station - Bronx, NY 4/9205

Riverhead Substation - Calverton, NY 4/9197

Point Jefferson Substation - Setauket, NY 4/9193

Shoreham Substation - Shoreham, NY 4/9201

Pilgrim Substation - Commack, NY 4/9188

Holbrook Substation - Holtsville, NY 4/9178

Lake Success Substation - New Hyde Park, NY 4/9213

East Garden City Substation - Garden City, NY 4/9216

Electric Control Center - New York, NY 4/9169

Gas Control Center - Bronx, NY 4/9177

Far Rockaway Substation - Far Rockaway, NY 4/9172

Glenwood Substation - Glenwood Landing, NY 4/9181

Valley Stream Substation - Lynbrook, NY 4/9191

Hauppauge Substation - Commack, NY 4/9187

New South Rd. Substation - Hicksville, NY 4/9200

Millwood Substation - New Castle, NY 4/9206

Astoria Complex - Queens, NY 4/9203

Northport Substation - Northport, NY 4/9195

Brookhaven Substation - Ridge, NY 4/9168

Sprain Brook Substation - Yonkers, NY 4/9199

Holtsville GT Substation - Holbrook, NY 4/9182

Shore Rd. Substation - Glenwood Landing, NY 4/9214

Drone flights over nuclear facilities have been increasing over the years, nearly doubling from the 12 reported in 2019 to 23 reported last year, according to the data provided to us by the NRC.
In September 2019, America's most powerful nuclear plant, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station near Tonopah, Arizona experienced a rash of drone overflights.

In a trove of documents and internal correspondences related to the event, NRC officials described the incident as a "drone-a-palooza" and said that it highlighted concerns about the potential for a future "adversarial attack" involving small unmanned aircraft and the need for defenses against them. You can read more about this from our exclusive story at the time here.
The drastic increase in drones reported to be flying over nuclear power plants comes amid a growing frenzy over mysterious objects in the sky that came after we broke the story about incursions over Picatinny Arsenal in northern New Jersey.

The FBI has stated that out of some 5,000 sighting reports, fewer than 100 merited further investigation. Still, the hysteria over drones has grown to the point where the FBI and New Jersey State Police had to plead with the public not to shoot lasers or bullets into the sky at any object flying overhead. The warning was not hypothetical. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst officials told The War Zone that pilots of 15 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst had reported being struck by lasers from the ground since Dec. 7. One of those pilots had to seek medical treatment but was quickly released, but all aircraft involved landed safely.

All this comes as drone incursions are being reported over military bases at home and abroad.

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in southern California confirmed on Tuesday that it had experienced multiple such incidents over its airspace in the past several days. It joins a growing list of military installations in the United States experiencing recent drone incursions, that also includes Hill Air Force Base in Utah, which reported drone incursions on Monday. Drones have also flown over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio forcing the closure of its airspace, which we were the first to report and they intruded on Naval Weapon Station Earle's airspace and several unknown aircraft recently followed a Coast Guard vessel.

Last month, drones also appeared over four U.S. Air Force bases in the U.K., another story we first broke, and more recently also over Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Drone incursions over key U.S. bases and training ranges are nothing new. TWZ broke the story of the major drone incursions over Langley AFB a year ago, which marked a major change in how the DoD was approaching this neglected threat. Other such incursions involving UAS have taken place off the U.S. coasts and, as well as military bases, key civilian infrastructure has also been visited by mysterious drones.

As we have reported on repeatedly, including the aforementioned Palo Verde incident, drones pose a danger to energy infrastructure and nefarious and bizarre drone activity at such sites has been an ongoing issue. What appeared to be the first actual drone attack on a power facility in the U.S. happened in 2020, which raised red flags in the intelligence community. The large recent increase in drone flyovers is deeply concerning for several reasons. Even small drones can deliver payloads able to cause damage and flying over these sites can provide insights into security protocols and responses, as well as network vulnerabilities and more.

While we don't know for sure that there is any connection between the recent spike in nuclear site flyovers and the ongoing drone frenzy, there is certainly more attention being put on what is going on in the skies over these plants due to a the massive news story unfolding in New Jersey. But it clearly still merits further examination.
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