Starting tomorrow, January 28, 2022, it will be forbidden to take photos or recordings of nuclear power plants in Belgium. This is necessary for safety, according to the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control. Those who do it anyway risk a fine or even a prison sentence of up to 1 year.
Taking aerial or satellite images of Belgian nuclear power plants and other large nuclear facilities was previously banned in 2020, but now there will be an expansion of that legislation. “This has everything to do with nuclear security,” says Ines Venneman of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC). “We want to prevent images of our nuclear sites from circulating on the Internet and thus ending up with people with bad intentions.”
Now it’s going a step further. All types of image recordings, including tourist photos, will be banned. “We find after two years that other images can also be problematic for security. For example, in an ordinary tourist photo the entrance can be clearly visible. Therefore, an expansion of the legislation was in order.”
Exception possible
Those who still take pictures risk a fine of 208 to 800 euros and a prison sentence of between eight days and one year. “The situation is assessed on a case-by-case basis. The punishment is determined by the correctional court. What is new is that our inspectors from FANC are now also allowed to make determinations and draw up an official report.”
Still, exceptions are possible. “The operators of the nuclear power plants are still allowed to take photos or recordings. Although FANC can impose conditions for use and distribution. In addition, anyone may submit a request to take images to Annelies Verlinden, the Minister of the Interior (CD&V).”
I’m sure anyone looking to blow up a nuclear plant will be deterred because there is a law against making pictures. We now no longer need any security on those sites.
Odd law considering they will be demolished soon.
Question, though, is the law only about *working* power plants, or about any? I liked the video of these guys who filmed a power plant’s demolition using their drones.
>For example, in an ordinary tourist photo the entrance can be clearly visible. Therefore, an expansion of the legislation was in order.
I also propose that we remove the numbers on the postbox at the entrance. That way terrorists will get lost trying to find the right address.
Good luck taking a photograph of anything at all in the north of Antwerp *without* the cooling towers of Doel. The fucking thing is on Wikipedia. The images are out there and aren’t about to disappear. Blurring the cooling towers on Google Street view isn’t going to protect anything againt anyone.
The only “terrorist” sabotage of a Belgian nuclear power station ever was due to someone who was inside already with a legitimate security pass.
The main cause of severe damage to Doel is, and has always been, and always will be, bad maintenance. *That* is what is going to kill us and/or leave us in the dark.
Dat was niet mijn doel.
In my humble opinion, this is so stupid and absurd a law that we should revoke any and all authority of the FANC and whoever helped bring in this law. What the hell will this solve? This is just posturing.
Security by obscurity is a really bad idea for a nuclear power plant.
Thankfully my last picture of the Doel power plant was taken on 22 August 2021. So it’s legal to post it everywhere, right?
Euhm, what? The law now says:
“Eenieder die, behoudens toestemming van de minister van Binnenlandse Zaken,
1) de klasse I-inrichtingen niet wazig maakt op de commerciële weergave van satellietbeelden
alsook eenieder die, behoudens toestemming van diezelfde minister,
2) foto’s of andere opnamen van die inrichtingen maakt
of
3) deze of reproducties ervan publiceert, tentoonstelt, verkoopt of verspreidt op het grondgebied van het Rijk of daarbuiten,
wordt bestraft met gevangenisstraf van acht dagen tot een jaar en met geldboete van zesentwintig tot honderd euro.”
The law used to make it illegal to not blur satellite photos, or to spread specifically aerial images. Now it literally says you can’t make any photos even if you don’t spread them. The part about blurring satellite images isn’t even relevant in that context any more. You can’t make satellite images because of point 2 even if you blur them later.
I hate laws like this, that are extremely broad so they make a bunch of stuff illegal that they didn’t intend to. It means people don’t know what’s allowed and what’s not allowed and prosecutors can decide to prosecute you or not based on whether or not they feel like doing so.
Sad, power plants will go extinct soon and that is a damn shame. Let us at least take pictures for the good memories.
Luckely you dont go to jail for anything under 2y sentence
What a shitshow.
How would a terrorist attack a nuclear plant ? How could external nuclear infrastructure could be sabotaged in order to create an uncontrolable nuclear fission ?
Many countries have had these laws for a very long time, where even drawn replications of certain important buildings and infrastructure which are key for the national security are prohibited.
It is of course not meant to be used in order to penalise tourists taking pictures, it’s a way to be able to add to the charges in case foreign agents are caught (or to have a legit excuse, lex Al Capone and his taxes) or if they discover people planning sabotage.
I am honestly surprised that this was not already the case in Belgium. But maybe I’m missing something.
Was this spurred on by something, or just extra “security?” Curious…very well might not be public knowledge anyway
Are drawings or paintings still allowed?
Bold of them to assume I take pics myself, I just use my drone with live streaming on twitch while using a VPN so I can make a guided tour lol
What because VanderStraten can’t bear to look at them anymore?
/s
I wasn’t planning to take said picture but now i really want to
Can’t even lock up murders and then they threaten to lock me up for taking a picture of a powerplant, if I wasn’t such a procrastinator i would send them a picture collage of Doel Tihange and a bunch of dick pics.
Why? Because if you are going to post it, the whole world will laugh in our faces because of those antiques?
fun fact: during the visit of american president bush’s secretary of exterior (I think her name was rice?) to belgium she was shown doel and then she considered to block the export of uranium to belgium due to there not being any anti-aircraft guns around the plant, it took the minister of the exterior to convince her that belgium had a slightly differen foreign policy to the US and as of such they didn’t need such things
Yesterday I took a bus (MIVB Bus 98) from Ukkel to Anderlecht to go to the IKEA, and there’s no way to take a picture out of the window looking SW without getting the Drogenbos cooling tower in the frame. I mean it’s right there.
25 comments
Starting tomorrow, January 28, 2022, it will be forbidden to take photos or recordings of nuclear power plants in Belgium. This is necessary for safety, according to the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control. Those who do it anyway risk a fine or even a prison sentence of up to 1 year.
Taking aerial or satellite images of Belgian nuclear power plants and other large nuclear facilities was previously banned in 2020, but now there will be an expansion of that legislation. “This has everything to do with nuclear security,” says Ines Venneman of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC). “We want to prevent images of our nuclear sites from circulating on the Internet and thus ending up with people with bad intentions.”
Now it’s going a step further. All types of image recordings, including tourist photos, will be banned. “We find after two years that other images can also be problematic for security. For example, in an ordinary tourist photo the entrance can be clearly visible. Therefore, an expansion of the legislation was in order.”
Exception possible
Those who still take pictures risk a fine of 208 to 800 euros and a prison sentence of between eight days and one year. “The situation is assessed on a case-by-case basis. The punishment is determined by the correctional court. What is new is that our inspectors from FANC are now also allowed to make determinations and draw up an official report.”
Still, exceptions are possible. “The operators of the nuclear power plants are still allowed to take photos or recordings. Although FANC can impose conditions for use and distribution. In addition, anyone may submit a request to take images to Annelies Verlinden, the Minister of the Interior (CD&V).”
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
I’m sure anyone looking to blow up a nuclear plant will be deterred because there is a law against making pictures. We now no longer need any security on those sites.
Odd law considering they will be demolished soon.
Question, though, is the law only about *working* power plants, or about any? I liked the video of these guys who filmed a power plant’s demolition using their drones.
>For example, in an ordinary tourist photo the entrance can be clearly visible. Therefore, an expansion of the legislation was in order.
I also propose that we remove the numbers on the postbox at the entrance. That way terrorists will get lost trying to find the right address.
Also, maybe we could paint the towers skyblue and build two decoy towers right next to them. I’ve seen that work in [a movie](https://despicableme.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza).
Wonder if this [flight sim mod](https://nl.flightsim.to/file/21460/doel-nuclear-power-plant) falls under this law.
Good luck taking a photograph of anything at all in the north of Antwerp *without* the cooling towers of Doel. The fucking thing is on Wikipedia. The images are out there and aren’t about to disappear. Blurring the cooling towers on Google Street view isn’t going to protect anything againt anyone.
The only “terrorist” sabotage of a Belgian nuclear power station ever was due to someone who was inside already with a legitimate security pass.
The main cause of severe damage to Doel is, and has always been, and always will be, bad maintenance. *That* is what is going to kill us and/or leave us in the dark.
Dat was niet mijn doel.
In my humble opinion, this is so stupid and absurd a law that we should revoke any and all authority of the FANC and whoever helped bring in this law. What the hell will this solve? This is just posturing.
Security by obscurity is a really bad idea for a nuclear power plant.
Thankfully my last picture of the Doel power plant was taken on 22 August 2021. So it’s legal to post it everywhere, right?
Euhm, what? The law now says:
“Eenieder die, behoudens toestemming van de minister van Binnenlandse Zaken,
1) de klasse I-inrichtingen niet wazig maakt op de commerciële weergave van satellietbeelden
alsook eenieder die, behoudens toestemming van diezelfde minister,
2) foto’s of andere opnamen van die inrichtingen maakt
of
3) deze of reproducties ervan publiceert, tentoonstelt, verkoopt of verspreidt op het grondgebied van het Rijk of daarbuiten,
wordt bestraft met gevangenisstraf van acht dagen tot een jaar en met geldboete van zesentwintig tot honderd euro.”
The law used to make it illegal to not blur satellite photos, or to spread specifically aerial images. Now it literally says you can’t make any photos even if you don’t spread them. The part about blurring satellite images isn’t even relevant in that context any more. You can’t make satellite images because of point 2 even if you blur them later.
I hate laws like this, that are extremely broad so they make a bunch of stuff illegal that they didn’t intend to. It means people don’t know what’s allowed and what’s not allowed and prosecutors can decide to prosecute you or not based on whether or not they feel like doing so.
Sad, power plants will go extinct soon and that is a damn shame. Let us at least take pictures for the good memories.
Luckely you dont go to jail for anything under 2y sentence
What a shitshow.
How would a terrorist attack a nuclear plant ? How could external nuclear infrastructure could be sabotaged in order to create an uncontrolable nuclear fission ?
Many countries have had these laws for a very long time, where even drawn replications of certain important buildings and infrastructure which are key for the national security are prohibited.
It is of course not meant to be used in order to penalise tourists taking pictures, it’s a way to be able to add to the charges in case foreign agents are caught (or to have a legit excuse, lex Al Capone and his taxes) or if they discover people planning sabotage.
I am honestly surprised that this was not already the case in Belgium. But maybe I’m missing something.
Was this spurred on by something, or just extra “security?” Curious…very well might not be public knowledge anyway
Are drawings or paintings still allowed?
Bold of them to assume I take pics myself, I just use my drone with live streaming on twitch while using a VPN so I can make a guided tour lol
What because VanderStraten can’t bear to look at them anymore?
/s
I wasn’t planning to take said picture but now i really want to
Can’t even lock up murders and then they threaten to lock me up for taking a picture of a powerplant, if I wasn’t such a procrastinator i would send them a picture collage of Doel Tihange and a bunch of dick pics.
Why? Because if you are going to post it, the whole world will laugh in our faces because of those antiques?
fun fact: during the visit of american president bush’s secretary of exterior (I think her name was rice?) to belgium she was shown doel and then she considered to block the export of uranium to belgium due to there not being any anti-aircraft guns around the plant, it took the minister of the exterior to convince her that belgium had a slightly differen foreign policy to the US and as of such they didn’t need such things
Yesterday I took a bus (MIVB Bus 98) from Ukkel to Anderlecht to go to the IKEA, and there’s no way to take a picture out of the window looking SW without getting the Drogenbos cooling tower in the frame. I mean it’s right there.