Authorities are investigating alarming reports of drones flying over a high-security nuclear weapons complex in South Carolina.
"Drones flying over any critical infrastructure, government facility, military base — with the environment we are living in today — would be a concern to law enforcement and homeland security officials," Mark Keel, chief of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, told
The State newspaper.
The drone scare is so serious that the FBI conferred with a "prominent nuclear watchdog" about it, the newspaper said.
The 310-square-mile plant is known as the Savannah River Site, and is filled with nuclear materials and atomic waste.
Unregulated drones, which are easily obtainable, have become a major concern around the world, particularly at airports where there have been numerous near misses with landing and departing jets.
Last month, authorities at
Warsaw's international airport had to suspend all landings briefly because of two unauthorized drones flying in a landing area.