Aerial photograph of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge.OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request show three different types of alarms were triggered by nuclear weapons protesters during an incursion at an Oak Ridge plant.
The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/15M8Ran) obtained the documentation that Y-12 plant contractor B&W Y-12 sent the government in response to the incident on July 28, 2012. The three protesters cut through a fence and managed to reach the storage facility that holds weapons-grade uranium before they were confronted. They poured blood onto the facility and spray-painted peace slogans on it.
The 102-page report dated Sept. 10 was in response to a “show-cause order” as federal authorities considered removing the contractor as the plant operator. The documents stated the triggering of multiple alarms “suggested a pathway was being followed.”
The newspaper reported protocol required a patrol team to be sent to the point of the break-in, but the protesters weren’t confronted before reaching the so-called “protected area” of the plant.
Roman Catholic nun Megan Rice, 83, Michael Walli, 64, and Greg Boertje-Obed, face a number of felony charges for the protest at Y-12. Their trial is scheduled to begin May 7 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.