TOKYO (Kyodo) — Three bright objects observed flying over a nuclear power complex in southwestern Japan in July circled through the premises and approached reactors undergoing decommissioning, according to a flight-tracking map recently obtained by Kyodo News.
The map, created by Kyushu Electric Power Co., the operator of the four-reactor Genkai Nuclear Power Station in Saga Prefecture, shows the estimated flight path of the unidentified objects based on eyewitness reports from security guards near the main gate at the time. The map was submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
Noting that security guards had heard motor sounds, the objects were initially reported by Kyushu Electric to the nuclear watchdog as drones, but they remain unidentified.
Hideyuki Fukuda, head of the Saga prefectural police, said in September that while the possibility that the lights were drones could not be completely ruled out, interviews with relevant individuals and reviews of nearby security camera footage suggested they were “highly likely” to have come from aircraft.
Isao Itabashi, a chief at the Council for Public Policy and an expert in crisis management, said that with no evidence or photos, “The problem is that we still do not know what actually happened.”
According to the map, the three lights were spotted around 9 p.m. on July 26 at the nuclear complex’s main gate security office.
They flew clockwise in an elliptical pattern for about 1 kilometer, moving from northeast to southwest, and even entered the premises, passing approximately 50 meters southeast of the Nos. 1 and 2 reactors.
At 9:56 p.m., Kyushu Electric reported the incident to the nuclear authority, considering it a possible intrusion or attack on the plant.
Based on information it received, the watchdog initially issued an emergency notice stating that “three drones are in flight,” but later corrected it to “three lights.”
No drone units have been found in the area, and no clear footage exists. Kyushu Electric has reviewed its procedures so that security guards can take cameras from the office to capture suspicious objects in an emergency.
The company also plans to boost its stock of equipment, including binoculars and night-vision scopes, while prefectural police are considering training to respond to drone flights at night.
