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French security chiefs are investigating a spate of mysterious and illegal overflights of French nuclear power stations by tiny, unmanned drones.
A government official said authorities had counted about 15 drone flights over seven nuclear sites since October 1.
French law bans aircraft of all types from flying within five kilometres of nuclear facilities.
Authorities insist France's nuclear facilities are designed to handle seismic and security risks, including those possibly posed by drones.
"Drone overflights are currently being carried out in a repeated and simultaneous manner over certain nuclear sites in our country," the prime minister's general secretariat for defence and national security, known as SGDSN, said in a statement.
"The objective apparently sought by this type of organised provocation is to disrupt the chain of surveillance and protection at these sites," it said.
Environment minister Segolene Royal told French media that investigators have no leads about who was behind the flights.
The SGDSN said authorities open legal cases for every suspected violation and those convicted could face fines of up to €75,000 (HK$727,000) and a year in prison.
Officials are increasingly keeping quiet about the government's response.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Thursday that France had launched an investigation after drones were sighted over seven EDF nuclear plants between October 5 and October 20. He said authorities had ways to "neutralise" drones but did not elaborate.
On Monday, he told RTL radio that "the best way to be effective in this area is not to say what we're doing."
The power company has insisted that the mystery flights pose no safety or security threat.
But the incidents have fuelled public anxiety in France, the world's most nuclear-dependent country with 58 reactors on 19 sites.
Greenpeace protesters forced their way into the Fessenheim facility earlier this year and have a history of breaking into French nuclear plants. The environmental campaign group has denied any involvement in the unmanned flights.
France gets more than two-thirds of electricity from nuclear power.
But in a deal with the Greens before the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections, President Francois Hollande's Socialist party promised to cut reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 per cent to 50 per cent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025.
Additional reporting from Reuters


France probes spate of illegal drone flights over nuclear power stations

The cooling towers at the Golfech nuclear plant on the edge of the Garonne river between Agen and Toulouse in France. Photo: Reuters

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Mysterious, illegal incidents fuel public anxiety in world's most nuclear-dependent country


French security chiefs are investigating a spate of mysterious and illegal overflights of French nuclear power stations by tiny, unmanned drones.


France probes spate of illegal drone flights over nuclear power stations

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mysterious, illegal incidents fuel public anxiety in world's most nuclear-dependent country

Mysterious, illegal incidents fuel public anxiety in world's most nuclear-dependent country