Greenpeace protest uncovers nuclear threat

Wednesday 07 June 2006

A Greenpeace campaigner has dramatically revealed the security threat that nuclear power stations pose to terrorists, with a protest at France’s Flamanville facility in Normandy. The protester flew within 300m of the two reactors currently operating at the plant in a ‘pego-jet’ powered parachute and landed on the site, despite a 3km air exclusion zone being in place to protect the plant.

The campaigner was protesting against plans by Electricite de France (EDF) to build a European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) at Flamanville, despite leaked documents claiming that such a development could not cope with a deliberate act of terrorism. The document also claimed that the security of the plant was the responsibility of the state.

The security response to the incident involved a large-scale alert involving military police and other security personnel, along with a helicopter and sniper arriving two hours after the alarm was raised.

“EDF cannot deny their responsibility as they owned almost wholly by the French Government – they are the State. They have built an enormous nuclear industry with no serious consideration of the risks. It is clear that the EPR being planned by EDF, like all nuclear plants, is vulnerable to an attack by a hijacked commercial aircraft – and the reality is that operators would have as little as five minutes to respond,” commented Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace International.

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