• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds

 

Three years after break-in, protesters return to Y-12

Posted at 7:36 pm August 8, 2015
By John Huotari 2 Comments

Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed at Y-12

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday. The three protesters—from left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed—object to nuclear weapons and the planned Uranium Processing Facility. Here they are pictured on Scarboro Road across from Y-12. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. August 9.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The march and rally were organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance as part of a series of events that commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II. Uranium for the first bomb, the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was enriched at Y-12.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—were convicted on two felony charges on May 8, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. But their conviction on the more serious felony sabotage charge was overturned two years later, on May 8, 2015, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli were released on May 16 and have a re-sentencing hearing on September 15 in Knoxville.

They had their first public reunion since being released from prison in Knoxville on Friday. They made their first trip back to Oak Ridge on Saturday.

Advertisement

Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli joined about 125 other anti-nuclear weapons activists who rallied at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Saturday and marched, drumming and chanting, almost two miles to Y-12. There, activists who object to the nuclear weapons work conducted at Y-12 tied peace cranes to a fence in front of the New Hope Center.

“What happens in that bomb plant is the preparation for the death of the planet,” OREPA coordinator Ralph Hutchison said.

Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli sneaked into Y-12 before dawn on July 28, 2012; cut through three fences in a high-security Protected Area; and vandalized the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. They splashed human blood, spray-painted slogans, and hammered on a side of the HEUMF. In May 2013, the trio, who are longtime anti-nuclear weapons activists, were found guilty on charges of property depredation of more than $1,000 and willfully injuring national defense premises. It was that second more serious charge that was overturned in May of this year.

Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli admitted what they did at Y-12, but they said their unprecedented intrusion was peaceful, religiously motivated, and nonviolent, a symbolic disarming. They allege that the work at Y-12 is unlawful and immoral.

Hutchison said those at Saturday’s rally, which included music and a skit, oppose the proposed Uranium Processing Facility, which could cost up to $6.5 billion, and other nuclear weapons work. By the end of Fiscal Year 2016, the United States will have appropriated more than $2 billion for the UPF and still not have spent one dollar on construction of the actual building itself, Hutchison said.

He said those attending Saturday’s rally and march would like the federal government to focus instead on dismantlement work.

The protesters came from cities as far away as Las Vegas; Detroit; Duluth, Minnesota; and Washington, D.C. Members of Veterans for Peace were there. Some protesters wore shirts that said “Stop the Bombs” or “Build Peace, Not Bombs.” Walli wore a shirt that said “Vietnam Veterans Against the War.”

Advertisement

Boertje-Obed and Rice wore shirts that said “The Fruit of Justice is Peace,” which is one of the sayings that they spray-painted on the side of the HEUMF three years ago. Opposition to the UPF was part of the reason that they and Walli went into Y-12 in July 2012.

Rice, a Catholic nun who is now 85 and lives in Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 35 months after the break-in. She has the least extensive criminal history, U.S. District Court Judge Amul R. Thapar said during a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Knoxville in February 2014. On Friday, Rice said she ended up spending 25 months in prison.

Boertje-Obed and Walli also ended up serving less time than expected because of the overturning of the sabotage conviction. Boertje-Obed and Walli had both been sentenced to 62 months, or a little more than five years. Boertje-Obed, who is now 60, is a house painter from Duluth, and Walli is a 66-year-old Catholic worker and Vietnam veteran from Washington, D.C.

Walli hadn’t been out of prison long before the July 2012 break-in. He was released on January 5, 2012—about seven months earlier—after an eight-month federal sentence for a July 2010 trespassing incident at the nuclear weapons plant.

Although they’re out now, it’s not clear yet exactly what restrictions will be placed on the trio during the September 15 re-sentencing hearing. In the meantime, they don’t feel free.

“We’re still in prison,” Boertje-Obed said. “We’re imprisoned by the bomb.”

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Y-12 OREPA Peace March

About 125 anti-nuclear weapons activists rallied at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Saturday before marching almost two miles to the Y-12 National Security Complex. At front from left are JR Dazo of Las Vegas; Ken Jones of Swannanoa, near Asheville, N.C., who wore a Veterans for Peace vest; Buddhist monk Denise Laffan of Newport, Tenn.; and Roberto Guzman of Detroit. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli March to Y-12

From left, Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli joined other anti-nuclear weapons activists who marched from the Oak Ridge Civic Center to Y-12 National Security Complex on Saturday. They are pictured here on South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Advertisement




Plowshares Protesters at Oak Ridge Civic Center

Plowshares protesters Sister Carol Gilbert, right, and Sister Ardeth Platte, both of Baltimore, spent 33 months and 41 months in prison, respectively, after symbolically hammering on a 10-ton cement lid over a missile at the N8 site in northern Colorado in October 2002 and pouring blood on top of the silo and railroad tracks where the missile would be launched. Platte was also arrested for trespassing at the Y-12 National Security Complex in 2010 with Michael Walli and others after crossing a barbed wire fence with a disarmament message, and she and Gilbert were in Oak Ridge on Saturday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today) 

 

Y-12 Fence Peace Crane Tying

Anti-nuclear weapons activists prepare to tie peace cranes on a fence in front of the New Hope Center on Scarboro Road on Saturday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Y-12 Fence and Peace Cranes

It was the first time peace cranes have been tied to this relatively new fence in front of New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: DOE, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: anti-nuclear weapons activists, Ardeth Platte, atomic bomb, Carol Gilbert, Denise Laffan, Greg Boertje-Obed, HEUMF, Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, Hiroshima, Japan, JR Dazo, Ken Jones, march, Megan Rice, Michael Walli, Nagasaki, New Hope Center, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, peace cranes, property depredation, rally, Ralph Hutchison, Roberto Guzman, sabotage, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, U.S. District Court, UPF, uranium processing facility, uranium storage building, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

Advertisements

 


Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Some of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require significant time to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

Comments

  1. Sam Hopwood says

    August 9, 2015 at 8:15 am

    The “Y-12 three” performed a much needed service in exposing the incredible lax security at our well known bomb factory. I’m just glad they were not “real” terrorists bent on doing great harm to all of us. I hope a lesson was learned.

    Reply
    • johnhuotari says

      August 12, 2015 at 10:02 am

      Sam,

      There are a number of people who share that view, that the three protesters did the nation a favor by exposing a security weakness at Y-12, and they are hopeful that significant lessons were learned. If I recall correctly, something along those lines came up at one of the congressional hearings on the subject.

      In their public comments, the protesters have said they think the media coverage has focused too much on the security at Y-12 as opposed to nuclear weapons themselves. But I think it’s natural for anyone who lives in the area and knows a bit about the guards, the weapons, and systems in place to wonder how this happened.

      Thank you.

      John

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More U.S. Department of Energy News

Eight new members join DOE’s environmental advisory board

The U.S. Department of Energy recently welcomed eight new members to its Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management citizen advisory board. The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is a federally chartered … [Read More...]

DOE conducting controlled burns on Oak Ridge Reservation

The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting controlled burns of grassland areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation through mid-April, weather permitting. People may see smoke from this activity. However, smoke in Oak Ridge … [Read More...]

UCOR announces management change

United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC, the lead cleanup contractor at federal sites in Oak Ridge, has announced a top management change that will be effective April 1. UCOR Chief Operating Officer Tom Dieter has announced he … [Read More...]

Y-12 honored with DOE sustainability partnership award

The Y-12 National Security Complex recently received a U.S. Department of Energy Sustainability Award for Strategic Partnerships for Sustainability. The Y-12 team was recognized for its efforts to improve efficiency, … [Read More...]

UPF construction could cost more, take longer

The Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex was supposed to be completed by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion, but that might no longer be the case. In the past week, federal officials said … [Read More...]

More DOE

Recent Posts

  • Ken Tarcza, Ph.D., joins ORAU as chief of staff
  • Community Band to perform ‘Music for Spring’
  • Eight new members join DOE’s environmental advisory board
  • DOE conducting controlled burns on Oak Ridge Reservation
  • Schools publish number of open seats per school
  • History Museum to celebrate new Hutment Exhibit
  • Community Egg Hunt is Saturday, April 1
  • Austin Knight Foundation donates $5,000 to Roane State’s EMS program
  • Roane State to host Virtual FAFSA Workshop on March 24
  • Today: International Festival at Children’s Museum

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2023 Oak Ridge Today