Over 1,000 people rallied and marched to Entergy HQ in Brattleboro, Vermont on Thursday. Additionally, two solidarity actions took place in other locations, Entergy Nuclear's Northeast office as well as Entergy's corporate office in New Orleans.

Some marched on stilts, while others painted their faces and carried signs that read "hell no, we won't glow," while others chanted "Shut it down!"

The Vermont Legislature voted in 2010 not allow the Vermont Yankee nuclear facility to operate for 20 years beyond the expiration of its original 40-year license, which expires in March of 2012. However, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the plant a 20-year license extension.

Vermont is the only state in the U.S. whose legislature has granted itself the authority to approve or reject the continued operation of a nuclear reactor. So what happens here will be precedent-setting for the nation.

Via:

A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on the first day of the plant’s operation after the expiration of its 40-year license.

Frances Crowe, of Northampton, Mass., said she wants Vermont Yankee to cease operations because she feels it’s a threat to the people who live nearby.

“As I was walking down, all I could think of was Fukushima and the suffering of all the people, and I don’t want that to happen to New England,” Crowe said, referring to the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged last year after an earthquake and tsunami.

When asked how many times she’d been arrested, she answered: “Not enough.”

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin was sympathetic to the protesters, “I am very supportive of the peaceful protesters gathered today in Brattleboro to express their — and my — frustration that this aging plant remains open after its agreed-upon license has expired."

Supporters of the nuclear power plant stood across the street watching, with signs that read “VT4VY” were posted on the lawn. One Brattleboro supporter said that he didn't think people understood the "benefit" of nuclear power, and that the protesters just aren't looking at the big picture.

Brattleboro is also known as one of two Vermont towns that approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution" in 2008.