Jul 15, 2013
Ready to pay the price of a nuclear accident?
This is the question left for the president of "the most nuclear-dependent country on earth" by dozens of Greenpeace activists who broke into and occupied what they say is one of France's most dangerous nuclear power plants.
In the pre-dawn action on Monday, the activists climbed fences at the Tricastin nuclear power plant run by Electricite de France (EDF) where they unfurled banners and projected "Tricastin Nuclear Accident" and showed an image of President Francois Hollande's face next to the words "President of the Catastrophe?" and "Ready to Pay the Price?"
"With this action, Greenpeace is asking Francois Hollande to close the Tricastin plant, which is among the five most dangerous in France," Yannick Rousselet of Greenpeace France said in a statement.
Heads of the plant and the Ministry of the Interior dismissed the action as a publicity stunt and said the activists didn't reach sensitive areas, France 24 reports. But Rousselet toldReuters, "If being physically able to touch the reactors is not being in a sensitive place, I don't know what is."
"People with bad intentions could have posed a threat to the reactor's safety," said Rousselet.
BBC News adds:
Jean-Vincent Place, a prominent Green politician and French senator, told Europe 1 radio the Greenpeace action "shows that getting inside one of these extremely dangerous plants is a bit like passing through a sieve".
In July 2008, an accident at a treatment centre next to the plant saw liquid containing untreated uranium overflow out of a faulty tank during a draining operation. The same month around 100 staff at Tricastin's nuclear reactor number four were contaminated by radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe. EDF, which runs the site, described the contamination as "slight".
AP reports that by midday, all but two of the nearly 30 activists had been arrested.
Salledepressefr has video:
L'action de Greenpeace dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin (version intégrale)Images d'illustration de la projection sur le réacteur et de l'installation de la banderole dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin par ...
No one is coming to save us. Join with us.
The world is a pretty dark place right now. Economic inequality off the charts. The climate emergency. Supreme Court corruption in the U.S. and corporate capture worldwide. Democracy in many nations coming apart at the seams. Fascism threatens. It’s enough to make you wish for some powerful being to come along and save us. But the truth is this: no heroes are coming to save us. The only path to real and progressive change is when well-informed, well-intentioned people—fed up with being kicked around by the rich, the powerful, and the wicked—get organized and fight for the better world we all deserve. That’s why we created Common Dreams. We cover the issues that corporate media never will and lift up voices others would rather keep silent. But this people-powered media model can only survive with the support of readers like you. Can you join with us and donate right now to Common Dreams’ Mid-Year Campaign? |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Ready to pay the price of a nuclear accident?
This is the question left for the president of "the most nuclear-dependent country on earth" by dozens of Greenpeace activists who broke into and occupied what they say is one of France's most dangerous nuclear power plants.
In the pre-dawn action on Monday, the activists climbed fences at the Tricastin nuclear power plant run by Electricite de France (EDF) where they unfurled banners and projected "Tricastin Nuclear Accident" and showed an image of President Francois Hollande's face next to the words "President of the Catastrophe?" and "Ready to Pay the Price?"
"With this action, Greenpeace is asking Francois Hollande to close the Tricastin plant, which is among the five most dangerous in France," Yannick Rousselet of Greenpeace France said in a statement.
Heads of the plant and the Ministry of the Interior dismissed the action as a publicity stunt and said the activists didn't reach sensitive areas, France 24 reports. But Rousselet toldReuters, "If being physically able to touch the reactors is not being in a sensitive place, I don't know what is."
"People with bad intentions could have posed a threat to the reactor's safety," said Rousselet.
BBC News adds:
Jean-Vincent Place, a prominent Green politician and French senator, told Europe 1 radio the Greenpeace action "shows that getting inside one of these extremely dangerous plants is a bit like passing through a sieve".
In July 2008, an accident at a treatment centre next to the plant saw liquid containing untreated uranium overflow out of a faulty tank during a draining operation. The same month around 100 staff at Tricastin's nuclear reactor number four were contaminated by radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe. EDF, which runs the site, described the contamination as "slight".
AP reports that by midday, all but two of the nearly 30 activists had been arrested.
Salledepressefr has video:
L'action de Greenpeace dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin (version intégrale)Images d'illustration de la projection sur le réacteur et de l'installation de la banderole dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin par ...
Ready to pay the price of a nuclear accident?
This is the question left for the president of "the most nuclear-dependent country on earth" by dozens of Greenpeace activists who broke into and occupied what they say is one of France's most dangerous nuclear power plants.
In the pre-dawn action on Monday, the activists climbed fences at the Tricastin nuclear power plant run by Electricite de France (EDF) where they unfurled banners and projected "Tricastin Nuclear Accident" and showed an image of President Francois Hollande's face next to the words "President of the Catastrophe?" and "Ready to Pay the Price?"
"With this action, Greenpeace is asking Francois Hollande to close the Tricastin plant, which is among the five most dangerous in France," Yannick Rousselet of Greenpeace France said in a statement.
Heads of the plant and the Ministry of the Interior dismissed the action as a publicity stunt and said the activists didn't reach sensitive areas, France 24 reports. But Rousselet toldReuters, "If being physically able to touch the reactors is not being in a sensitive place, I don't know what is."
"People with bad intentions could have posed a threat to the reactor's safety," said Rousselet.
BBC News adds:
Jean-Vincent Place, a prominent Green politician and French senator, told Europe 1 radio the Greenpeace action "shows that getting inside one of these extremely dangerous plants is a bit like passing through a sieve".
In July 2008, an accident at a treatment centre next to the plant saw liquid containing untreated uranium overflow out of a faulty tank during a draining operation. The same month around 100 staff at Tricastin's nuclear reactor number four were contaminated by radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe. EDF, which runs the site, described the contamination as "slight".
AP reports that by midday, all but two of the nearly 30 activists had been arrested.
Salledepressefr has video:
L'action de Greenpeace dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin (version intégrale)Images d'illustration de la projection sur le réacteur et de l'installation de la banderole dans la centrale nucléaire du Tricastin par ...
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.