SIX nuclear plants in Spain are now in disuse but have not been properly shut down and dismantled, Greenpeace has alerted.
Taking down nuclear plants when their useful life ends and replacing them with renewable energy supplies would, as well as eradicating the health hazards they pose, create around 100,000 new jobs, says the charity's latest report.
Five provinces in Spain house nuclear reactors – these are based in Garoña and Miranda de Ebro (Burgos), L'Ametlla de Mar (Tarragona province), Gárgoles de Abajo (Guadalajara), Trujillo (Cáceres) and the Ayora-Cofrentes valley in the province of Valencia.
To raise awareness of their risks, Greenpeace staged a sponsored 'zombie fun-run' the day before Hallowe'en in each of these towns and villages, although the race for Ayora-Cofrentes was held in Valencia city.
They included a four-kilometre and a 10-kilometre version in all of them, with a €5 entry fee to be donated to the association Chernobil Elkartea.
The latter charity has been working for 21 years for children who still suffer the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Many of the participants in the so-called Nuclear Running Dead races – named after the TV series The Walking Dead – dressed up as zombies.