Nun gets nearly 3 years in prison for nuke protest
By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press
Feb 18, 2014 5:17 PM CST
FILE - In this Monday, May 6, 2013, file photo, anti-nuclear weapons activists, from left, Michael Walli, Sister Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed arrive for their trial in Knoxville, Tenn. All three were convicted on May 8, 2013, of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons...   (Associated Press)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An 84-year-old nun has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for breaking into and defacing a storage bunker holding bomb-grade uranium in a peace demonstration at a Tennessee weapons plant.

Megan Rice was sentenced Tuesday along with activists Greg Boertje-Obed (bohr-CHEE' OH'-bed) and Michael Walli. The men were sentenced to more than five years in prison.

The three activists cut through three fences on July 28, 2012, and reached a storage bunker that holds the nation's primary supply of bomb-grade uranium.

They painted messages, hung banners and threw blood on the bunker wall.

While officials claimed there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated or used to assemble a dirty bomb, the break-in raised serious questions about security.