Greenpeace activists staged yet another demonstration on the grounds of a European nuclear facility Tuesday, overtopping fences and climbing onto the roof of the Fessenheim plant in France.
According to the organization's blog, about 60 people from several countries entered plant grounds. They hung a banner from a reactor building in an effort to encourage the closure of the plant, which is the oldest operating in France. The stunt follows similar protests at other reactors in France, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands March 5.
Fifty six people were arrested in the incident Tuesday, Le Monde reported, after protestors used a truck with a lift system to top plant fences. Safety was not compromised by the incursion, according to plant management, and the reactors operated normally throughout the event.
Two pressurized water reactors generate 1,800 megawatts at Fessenheim near the German border. They came online in 1977, and French President Francois Hollande plans to decommission them by the end of 2016 as part of a broader effort to reduce nuclear's share of French power generation from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2025.