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This is scary! What if the drone carried an explosive, landed on the nuclear plants and detonated? I shudder at the thought. There should be a camera with 360 v

This is scary! What if the drone carried an explosive, landed on the nuclear plants and detonated? I shudder at the thought. There should be a camera with 360 vision that constantly monitors the surrounding area for incoming projectiles and drones and shoot laser or bullets at it.

robzyb 12y ago
I would've guessed that most nuclear plants would be able to withstand a drone-load of explosive, especially after 9/11. Am I mistaken?
- rtpg 12y ago
  I believe I've heard something to the effect of if a plane was flown into a nuclear power plant there's no real chance of catastrophic nuclear-related damage (of course the loss of human life and some structural damage will happen)
icebraining 12y ago
On the other hand, this has been possible for decades using RC planes (let alone regular planes).
- sjtrny 12y ago
  RC Planes are drones too.
- jotm 12y ago
  The new electric quadcopters are like the first iPhone - people think it's an all new invention, when in fact we've had marvelous gas-powered RC helicopters for a long time.
  - lsaferite 12y ago
    Quadcopters seem to be the platform that drove the highly advanced flight computers that allow anyone to fly the things. When I take my FCs out of acro mode even my 4 year old can fly them and not crash. They are being used on more platforms now, but the quads seems to be in the news as the front runners.
1stop 12y ago
What exactly would it blow up? Nuclear plants were designed to withstand missile and plane strikes weren't they?
- breckenedge 12y ago
  In design terminology I saw, missile equals tree uprooted by tornado (not chemically explosive). They've not been designed for a plane strike (most were designed in the 60s and 70s). NPPs in the US had to undergo an analysis of the results of an aircraft impact, which may or may not have resulted in retrofits (the results are security sensitive).
Danieru 12y ago
What would happen? Nothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjhxuhTmGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjhxuhTmGk
jacquesm 12y ago
The worst you could do is cause the plant to shut down, it wouldn't go any further than that. Gnat vs Elephant. Landing a 747 on one would be a different matter (but they're supposedly prepared against that eventuality too, though I really hope nobody will ever try to see if that really holds up or not).
Houshalter 12y ago
1) that's an absurd proposal, would be very expensive, and incredibly dangerous if it malfunctioned. Imagine it detects a car or airplane as a projectile and starts shooting at it. 2) drones don't make anything new possible. They could just as easily use homemade rockets, mortars, old fashioned RC planes, etc. I don't know why people are so afraid of possible abuses of new technology. There are so many old technologies which are also abusable in similar ways, but we don't generally worry about it because it's just not a significant problem.

robzyb 12y ago

I would've guessed that most nuclear plants would be able to withstand a drone-load of explosive, especially after 9/11. Am I mistaken?

rtpg 12y ago
I believe I've heard something to the effect of if a plane was flown into a nuclear power plant there's no real chance of catastrophic nuclear-related damage (of course the loss of human life and some structural damage will happen)

icebraining 12y ago

On the other hand, this has been possible for decades using RC planes (let alone regular planes).

sjtrny 12y ago
RC Planes are drones too.
jotm 12y ago
The new electric quadcopters are like the first iPhone - people think it's an all new invention, when in fact we've had marvelous gas-powered RC helicopters for a long time.
- lsaferite 12y ago
  Quadcopters seem to be the platform that drove the highly advanced flight computers that allow anyone to fly the things. When I take my FCs out of acro mode even my 4 year old can fly them and not crash. They are being used on more platforms now, but the quads seems to be in the news as the front runners.

1stop 12y ago

What exactly would it blow up? Nuclear plants were designed to withstand missile and plane strikes weren't they?

breckenedge 12y ago
In design terminology I saw, missile equals tree uprooted by tornado (not chemically explosive). They've not been designed for a plane strike (most were designed in the 60s and 70s). NPPs in the US had to undergo an analysis of the results of an aircraft impact, which may or may not have resulted in retrofits (the results are security sensitive).

Danieru 12y ago

What would happen? Nothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjhxuhTmGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjhxuhTmGk

jacquesm 12y ago

The worst you could do is cause the plant to shut down, it wouldn't go any further than that. Gnat vs Elephant. Landing a 747 on one would be a different matter (but they're supposedly prepared against that eventuality too, though I really hope nobody will ever try to see if that really holds up or not).

Houshalter 12y ago

1) that's an absurd proposal, would be very expensive, and incredibly dangerous if it malfunctioned. Imagine it detects a car or airplane as a projectile and starts shooting at it. 2) drones don't make anything new possible. They could just as easily use homemade rockets, mortars, old fashioned RC planes, etc. I don't know why people are so afraid of possible abuses of new technology. There are so many old technologies which are also abusable in similar ways, but we don't generally worry about it because it's just not a significant problem.