Nun convicted in US nuclear site break-in

Three activists, including an 83-year-old nun, who broke into a US nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee were convicted on Wednesday of interfering with national security.

In what The New York Times labeled the biggest security breach in the history of the atomic complex, the trio broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012 and defaced a uranium processing plant.

The Y-12 facility has been in operation since 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, and today is responsible for both the production and maintenance of all uranium parts for the entire US nuclear weapons arsenal. Over the years, the facility has also been the target of nonviolent anti-nuclear protests.

Now, a jury in Tennessee has charged the three protesters with sabotaging the plant, with a second charge of damaging federal property.

Defense attorneys for the three activists - Sister Megan Rice, 57-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, 64 - maintained that the prosecution had overreached.

Sister Megan said she regretted only having waited 70 years to take action.

A jury deliberated for two and a half hours before handing down its verdict. The three face up to 20 years in prison following their conviction for sabotaging the plant, which was first constructed during the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear bomb.

The three, who belong to the group Transform Now Plowshares, were also found guilty of causing more than $1,000 (£643) of damage to government property, for which they could face up to 10 years in prison.

Walli and Boertje-Obed, a house painter, testified in their own defence, telling jurors they had no remorse for their actions.

Sister Megan stood and smiled as the verdict was read out at a court in Knoxville, Tennessee. Supporters in the courtroom gasped and wept and sang a hymn as the judge left.

The break-in disrupted operations there, and reportedly caused more than $8,500 of damage.

Sister Megan said her only regret was waiting so long to stage her protest. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death," she said.

In a statement to the court, Boertje-Obed said: "Nuclear weapons do not provide security. Our actions were providing real security and exposing false security."

The three activists admitted to cutting the fence to get into the site, walking around, spray-painting words, stringing crime scene tape and chipping a wall with hammers. They spent two hours inside.

They also sprayed the exterior of the complex with baby bottles containing human blood.

When a guard approached, they offered him food and started singing.

In the wake of the episode, Congress and the energy department investigated the facility and found "troubling displays of ineptitude" there.

Top officials were reassigned, including at the National Nuclear Security Agency.

WSI, the company providing security at the site, was dismissed and other officers were sacked, demoted or suspended.