Greenpeace activists break into nuclear plant in France

PARIS, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A group of Greenpeace activists entered a nuclear plant in Ardeche, southeastern France on Tuesday to highlight the danger of atomic power and related security problems, the environmental group said.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, about 20 Greenpeace campaigners broke into Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plant in Ardeche "to warn about the extreme vulnerability of spent fuel storage pools."

Some of them climbed one of the buildings containing pools used to cool highly radioactive spent fuel rods and set off flares to show that "they are not sufficiently protected against the risk of external attacks."

"Greenpeace France demands that Electricite de France (EDF) take charge of this nuclear safety problem and undertake the necessary work to secure the most fragile facilities, in particular spent fuel storage pools," the group said in a statement.

EDF, the state-run utility operator which operates the nuclear plan, confirmed the break-in but said that "the intruders remained outside the nuclear zone."

"This intrusion had no impact on the safety of the facilities," it added.

Operating 58 reactors, France is the most nuclear-reliant country in the world, with more than three quarters of its power coming from nuclear sources.

The centrist government said it will take more time to meet a pledge to trim reliance on nuclear energy.

As part of its climate plan, the country previously targeted to close up to 17 reactors in order to cut nuclear power generation to 50 percent from 75 percent by 2025. Enditem