PROTESTERS yesterday blocked a private road leading to a power station for more than two hours in an attempt to highlight the threat terrorists could pose if the nuclear industry was expanded.
Demonstrators said they stood a few hundred metres from the plant at Sizewell, Suffolk for 15 minutes without being challenged.
The group of four staged the protest days after plans were announced for a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Pol
ice said no arrests were made and the demonstrators - three women and one man - agreed to leave after negotiations. A spokesman said the protest began at about 7am and ended at about 9.30am.
The four were fastened together by concrete-filled tubes attached to their arms.
The protesters said they wanted to spell out the dangers of nuclear expansion to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"We were lying across the road for 15 minutes, fastened together, before the security guards came," said one protester, Mell Harrison, 36, of Bungay, Suffolk.
"We were 200 metres from the reactor, if that. If we can do it so can terrorists. Imagine that. We didn't get inside the fence. But protesters have done that before.
"If Gordon Brown wants to expand the nuclear industry he should realise that he will face an awful lot of opposition. All the old problems with nuclear power have not gone away. What will we do with the waste? What about coastal erosion and the effect that will have on plants?
"There are accidents. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl really happened. It could happen again. And what about terrorism?"
Harrison, who works for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, added: "The Government will discover that an awful lot of people have concerns and people will protest. The answer isn't nuclear power. We must explore alternatives."
A British Energy spokesman said security had not been compromised. He said: "Everyone is entitled to demonstrate peacefully but we are engaged in a larger debate with the country and the Government about energy and the way we go forward. British Energy has a vital role to play in low carbon electricity generation."
Earlier this week British Energy signalled a move towards a new generation of nuclear power stations. The company said four of its sites had been earmarked for redevelopment.
Sources said Sizewell, Dungeness in Kent, Hinkley in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex were the most likely sites for new reactors.
A Government decision on the future of nuclear power is expected in 2008 and British Energy has commissioned geological, environmental and marine studies to assess the impact of building new stations at its eight plants.
First Minister Alex Salmond said last week that Scotland does not need nuclear power to secure its energy supply.
He said the SNP administration had made clear its opposition to new nuclear power in Scotland in response to the recent Westminster consultation on the issue.
Any application to build a nuclear power station in Scotland would require consent from Scottish ministers, under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1999, Salmond added.
