PARIS, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Greenpeace activists entered a nuclear power plant near Paris, evading security to unfurl a banner reading "Safe Nuclear Power Doesn't Exist," authorities say.
The environmental group said the ability of its members to reach the center of the plant before being arrested in the dawn operation Monday exposed the vulnerability of French nuclear sites, Radio France Internationale reported.
"In about 15 minutes the activists reached the heart of the plant, where the nuclear core and nuclear fuel are," Sophia Majnoni, a Greenpeace nuclear expert, said.
French authorities confirmed the intrusion and said they arrested nine activists.
France is the world's most nuclear-dependent country with 58 operating reactors but its reliance on nuclear power has been the subject of increasing debate since the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
French authorities said a thorough search was being conducted of all nuclear installations after admitting attempts had also been made to break into nuclear power plants in southwestern and central France and a nuclear research center in the southeast.
