April 27, 2002	Saturday	Safar 13, 1423

MADRID, April 26: Six Greenpeace environmentalists scaled the dome of the Jose Cabrera nuclear plant at Zorita, 50kms northeast of Madrid, on Thursday, and hung a banner demanding “Close now!”.

Spain’s Nuclear Safety Council has begun a preliminary investigation. It intends asking for a formal probe that could lead to a possible fine for Union Fenosa, the power firm that runs the plant.

“Results from the first emergency inspection show no damage to any of the sensitive parts of the plant. Nuclear security was never at risk,” a spokeswoman for the council said on Friday.

“Now we have to conduct further analysis and see what extra physical security measures should be taken and who is to blame for this, especially after security measures had been increased after the attacks of Sept 11,” she said.

The storming of the nuclear power plant has opened debate about the safety of Spain’s aging reactors and security measures tightened after Sept 11.

El Mundo newspaper said Greenpeace had exposed poor security at the plant. “What if Greenpeace were al Qaeda?” it asked.

Greenpeace, which said only one security guard chased the intruders and fired a shot into the air in an unsuccessful bid to stop them, said the oldest of Spain’s nine nuclear plants suffered from rust and cracks in some of its key containers.

Greenpeace said its team needed just 10 minutes to get from the main gate to the top of the nuclear plant, which the ecologists claim has released radioactive material into the air and toward the nearby Tajo River.

A spokesman for the nuclear plant said the ecologists were able to get to the top of the dome because the response from the security guard was “proportionate” to the threat.

“All the security measures were working ... We would rather wait for the inquiry from the authorities before we talk about responsibilities,” he said.

It was unclear whether any investigation could affect the renewal of Union Fenosa’s permit for the plant, due in October.

“Once the technical and legal analysis of the situation is over, we will ask for a formal probe,” the CSN said in a statement.

The Greenpeace protest was timed to coincide with the 16th anniversary of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the fourth anniversary of Spain’s worst ecological disaster, the Aznalcollar spill when a reservoir burst and dumped almost seven million cubic metres of toxic sludge near a wildlife reserve.—Reuters