Nun, 82, 'shut down NUCLEAR facility after breaking in and splattering uranium complex with blood' Favorite 

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

With flashlights and bolt cutters, the three pacifists defied barbed wire as well as armed guards, video cameras and motion sensors at the Oak Ridge nuclear reservation in Tennessee early on July 28, a Saturday. The activists had apparently passed through four separate fences and walked for 'over two hours' before reaching the uranium storage building. They splashed blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility — a new windowless, half-billion-dollar plant encircled by enormous guard towers — and hung banners outside its walls.

“Swords into plowshares,” read one, quoting the Book of Isaiah. “Spears into pruning hooks.” A statement released on Plowshares’ website read that the use of blood was meant to ‘(remind) us of the horrific spilling of blood by nuclear weapons.’ The plant holds the nation’s main supply of highly enriched uranium, enough for thousands of nuclear weapons.

After the break-in, the protesters released an “indictment” accusing the United States of crimes against humanity.

Federal prosecutors charged Sister Megan Rice, 82, a Roman Catholic nun of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, Michael R. Walli, 63, of Washington, and Gregory I. Boertje-Obed, 57, of Duluth, Minn., with trespassing on government property (a misdemeanor) as well as its destruction and depredation (both felonies). The charges carry penalties of up to 16 years in prison and fines of up to $600,000. All pleaded not guilty.

A trial in Federal District Court in Knoxville is set for Oct. 10. If found guilty, the three defendants might be allowed to serve their sentences for the various charges concurrently, shortening their imprisonments to five years.