Greenpeace Storms Aussie Reactor
17 Dec 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52442-2001Dec16.
Greenpeace Storms Aussie Reactor
SYDNEY, Australia –– Dozens of Greenpeace activists dressed up as nuclear
waste barrels stormed a nuclear reactor Monday, scaling the walls and
unfurling protest banners.
Detective Inspector Laurie Pettiford of the New South Wales state police
said 46 people were arrested Monday and would be charged with trespassing.
A four-wheel-drive vehicle was used to block the gates of the Lucas Heights
reactor in southern Sydney as two truckloads of activists ran onto the
grounds, scaling a radio tower, the main building and a waste storage
facility.
Some unfurled banners reading: "Nuclear never safe." One protester chained
himself to the top of the main building.
Pam Keenan, a spokeswoman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organization, the government authority that runs Lucas Heights, said Lucas
Heights has "layers" of security.
"Because of that security in-depth approach, there wasn't any breach of the
secure part of the site," she said.
The facility, a research reactor where scientists produce radioactive
medicines sold to hospitals, also supplies irradiated silicon for the
semiconductor industry.
The reactor, about the size of a washing machine, possesses only enough
radioactive uranium to fill a coffee cup.
Built in 1958, Australia's only reactor is due to be replaced next year.
"A new reactor is unnecessary," Greenpeace activist Stephen Campbell said
in a statement explaining the protester's actions.
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Sunday, December 16, 2001; 10:47 PM
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