LONDON - Security has been stepped up at Britain's biggest power station, the Drax plant in northern England, ahead of a planned protest by environmental campaigners, a spokeswomen for the plant said on Wednesday.
Drax Power, which generates about seven percent of the UK's electricity, has hired extra security staff and police have been drafted into the area as campaigners plan to invade the site on Thursday and force the station to shut down.
"We have appropriate security on site, our plan is for business as usual (on Thursday)," the spokeswoman said.
"If we had to shut down the plant, this could destabilise the grid and cause localised blackouts," the spokeswoman said.
Coal-fired Drax, at Selby in Yorkshire, is the UK's biggest single industrial emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse linked to global warming and climate change.
Drax's carbon dioxide emissions in 2005, at 20.8 million tonnes, were higher than Sweden's 19.3 million tonnes.
Britain's energy regulator Ofgem said it was aware of events at Drax. "We are monitoring the situation," a spokesman said.
Green group Camp for Climate Action, has said it plans to invade the Drax site despite an injunction taken out by Drax banning people from entering its grounds.
Camp for Climate Action could not be reached for comment.
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