The National Nuclear Security Administration is conducting low-altitude helicopter flights March 16 through March 19 over the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, Ohio, the agency said in an email last week.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last July extended the operating license for the Vistra Corp. nuclear plant by 20 years.
The NNSA’s aerial measuring system conducts preventative radiation missions in preparation for high-profile events, including the Super Bowl, political party conventions, and the presidential inauguration.
The public in Perry, Ohio may see a Leonardo AW-139 helicopter, equipped with radiation-sensing technology, flying at low levels over the city, NNSA said. “These aerial radiation surveys are a normal and routine part of security and emergency preparedness activities,” the agency added in its press release.
NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team, which conducts these flights, is part of the Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation, which aims to provide early threat indications, inform of nuclear materials globally, and prevent adversaries from obtaining and detonating a nuclear device.