'Something is observing us': Man tracks every flyover at America's nuclear plants | Reality Check

Go to https://ground.news/ross to get 40% off unlimited access to the news tool I actually trust. It helps you cut through the noise and understand how stories are being reported across the spectrum. In this episode of "Reality Check," Ross Coulthart sits down with Daryl Johnson, the former senior security specialist at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who spent more than a decade monitoring and trending every reported drone and UAP flyover at America's commercial nuclear power plants. Johnson reveals that close to 300 flyovers were logged between 2014 and 2025, with fewer than one percent ever traced back to an operator, and that the vast majority of plants still have no no-fly zone, no radar and no aerial detection requirement of any kind. Johnson recounts the incidents that defied a conventional drone explanation, including a black triangle that hovered over Pennsylvania's Susquehanna plant for more than two hours in 2022 and a December 2024 incident near Virginia's Surry plant in which lights vanished and reappeared a mile away within seconds before ascending out of sight. Johnson also describes the resistance he met inside the NRC when he pushed for UAP reporting guidance, and the AARO data request that first put the phenomenon on his desk. His conclusion, drawn from his new book "Unguarded Skies," is blunt: something is observing us and we don't know what it is or who controls it. #nuclearplant #UAPs #drones CREDITS: Host: Ross Coulthart Executive Producer: Andy Gipson Editorial Producer: Meagan Medick Associate Producer: Will Tomasi Research Producer: Rob Jones Editor: Tony Diasio On "Reality Check," NewsNation Special Correspondent Ross Coulthart takes a fact-based approach to tackle everything from unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) to mysteries often missing from the headlines. More Reality Check: https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check-with-ross-coulthart/ Email your questions to RealityCheck@NewsNationNow.com NewsNation is your source for fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans. More from NewsNation: https://www.newsnationnow.com/ Get our app: https://trib.al/TBXgYpp Find us on your screen: https://www.joinnn.com/ CHAPTER SUMMARY: 0:00 Intro 4:04 What Are These Drones? 5:06 Why Nuclear Plants Are Targets 7:40 A Word From Our Sponsors 10:12 How Serious is this Threat? 11:08 Bigger Than a Vehicle 13:11 Two Hours Over Susquehanna 15:33 No Detection Equipment 17:09 Less Than One Percent Identified 18:09 Discovering the UAP Question 20:05 Where Plants Are Vulnerable 23:47 Lessons From Ukraine 25:43 Only Two No-Fly Zones 28:06 Fighting His Own Agency 32:09 Security Rolled Back 37:21 The Inexpensive Fix 39:26 How Japan Solved It 41:47 An Order Without Teeth 44:52 Triangles in the Archive 47:18 The Surry Incident 48:51 Laughed at by Management 52:14 Incomplete Data to AARO 55:57 "Something Is Observing Us" 1:00:20 Nearly 300 Flyovers 1:01:25 Told to Stand Down 1:04:29 A Secret American Craft? 1:06:08 The White Paper 1:08:25 The Pantex Contrast 1:11:07 No Aerial Detection Required 1:14:07 Can't Jam, Can't Shoot 1:16:26 Safer Skies and Cotton Bill 1:18:51 What Does He Think?