14 DAY TRIAL // Greenpeace activists might have gone a little too far this time, after they broke in a French nuclear site located 95 kilometers from Paris. Their action aimed to reveal the vulnerability of the power plant. Greenpeace called the police and they arrived in no time to investigate the case.
After nine hours spent on the field, they managed to identify nine intruders who got involved in this secret operation, Aljazeera reports.
The intruders broke in the power plant in Nogent-sur-Seine and hanged banners reading "Coucou" and "Facile," meaning “Hey” and “Easy,” in an attempt to highlight that major power plants are not as safe as their officials might like to think.
This initiative is apparently part of a bigger plan, according to Greenpeace. The eco-friendly organization suggested what the zealous activists had in mind was to illegally enter several similar facilities located in France. Moreover, according to its statement, intruders are still holed up inside a different site, but didn't want to reveal the name or its location.
It seems that activists have firm beliefs and would do everything in their power to display the flaws of the nuclear industry. Three more have been caught while trying to secretly enter a site in southeastern Cadarache.
On the other hand, Electricite de France (EDF), the company who is in charge of the major power plant declared that banners were hanged in two other facilities, Chinon and Blayais, this time on the outside. Even if the owners have alerted the authorities, they say the illegal operation did not harm their security system.
All in all, the activity of the power plant is unlikely to pose any threats, but authorities fear their operations could be compromised by “non-natural attack, like the risk of terrorism,” according to Sophia Majnoni d'Intignano, a Greenpeace activist.
Furthermore, Greenpeace thinks this strategy is meant to reveal that, even if officials from Nogent-sur-Seine power plant tried to apply safety standards to make sure its activity wouldn't have a devastating impact upon the environment or the population, they have disregarded the “human factor.”
"With this nonviolent action, Greenpeace has shown how vulnerable French nuclear plants are," notes Majnoni d'Intignano.
Despite the fact that this action is considered “nonviolent” by the eco-group, it is still illegal and therefore trespassers will have to pay for their actions. At this point in time the police are keen on demonstrating that the punishment for breaking in a nuclear power plant should never be considered “facile” (easy).