London (Platts)--5Dec2011/614 am EST/1114 GMT

The nine Greenpeace protesters that infiltrated the Nogent Sur Seine plant complex near Paris, France, were completely cleared from the site by 1130 local time (1030 GMT) Monday, plant operator EDF said.

The French state-controlled utility said that the invasion of the protesters "had no impact on the safety of the plant, or the safety of employees at the site."

The activists managed to enter the Nogent nuclear complex and climb on to the dome of one of the reactors, where they unfurled a banner saying "Safe Nuclear Power Does not Exist." EDF said that the nine intruders at Nogent had been "immediately detected' and had been monitored throughout the site. The group were being questioned by police, it said.

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The Nogent complex consists of two 1.3 GW reactors, and is situated around 120 km from Paris.

"This action shows just how vulnerable the French nuclear plants are,' Greenpeace said in a statement.

It criticized France's audit of nuclear power plants for not taking into account the risk of human intruders.

Protesters also unfurled banners Monday at France's Chinon and Blayais nuclear power plant complexes. There was "no sign of intrusion" at these complexes, or any other nuclear plant EDF said.

EDF operates all 58 of France's operational nuclear power reactors and is building the nation's first third-generation EPR plant at Flamanville, on the northern coast.

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan earlier this year, the French government ordered an audit of all of its nuclear plants which parallel the stress tests being carried out at nuclear power plants across the EU in cooperation with the European Commission.

The future of nuclear power in France, which provides around 75% of the nation's electricity, has become an early debating point ahead of next year's presidential elections.

President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday has pledged his support for a second third-generation nuclear power reactor project at the Penly nuclear complex.

Sarkozy's support for new nuclear power plants has marked clear policy lines between his center-right UMP party and main opposition party, the Socialists.

In mid-November, the Socialist party and the Green party Europe Ecologie Les Verts, signed a pre-election pact which would implement the closure of 24 of Frances 58 nuclear reactors by 2025 and halt the building of new reactors after the Flamanville plant is completed.

--Robin Sayles, newsdesk@platts.com

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