File photo of an anti-nuclear protester. (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP)— Six elderly Massachusetts women are due to go on trial on charges they chained themselves to the gate at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant while authorities were busy with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene last year.
The women, all members of the Shut It Down Affinity Group, are scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro.
Police say they traveled to nuke plant gate in Vernon on Aug. 30, 2011, used a chain and padlock to lock the entrance gate and chained themselves to the fence.
It was one of about 22 protests the group has mounted against the reactor’s continued operation in recent years.
Three of the women are from Northampton and one each is from Athol, Colrain and West Springfield.
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