More than a dozen Greenpeace
protestors scaled a cooling tower in Spain Tuesday, breaching
security and creating an emergency alert at one of the country's six
nuclear power plants.
With
a Spanish regulatory agency considering whether to extend the plant's
operating permit in the coming weeks, the protestors painted
“Peligro” – danger in Spanish – on the 400-foot-tall tower,
according to multiple news reports.
Protesters entered the plant grounds around 7 a.m., local time,
and a government spokeswoman described a security guard on duty to CNN
International as “slightly injured” after the incident. She went
on to say that as many as 14 protesters made it onto the tower. News reports indicate the plant continued normal operations after they were arrested.
According
to Spanish regulatory authorities, the 1,000 megawatt Cofrentes plant in
the Mediterranean coastal province of Valencia went into operation in
1984. It is owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola and features a BWR-6
type boiling light-water reactor.