The German chapter of the organization wants to mothball the Biblis and Brunsbuettel plants, arguing they could be the target of potentially catastrophic attacks from the air, Greenpeace energy expert Stefan Schurig said.

Schurig said that German authorities had failed to take sufficient precautionary measures at such sites since the September 11 attacks two years ago in the United States, in which suicide hijackers ploughed passenger planes into strategic targets.

Greenpeace has filed formal complaints with the governments of Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein -- the states where the plants are located.

"For two years, the responsible authorities have been ignoring the fact that the threat for atomic nuclear power plants has dramatically risen," Schurig said.

"The state is thus gives priority to power companies' financial interests over the protection of the population against attack."

Greenpeace argues that because the two Biblis and Brunsbuettel plants are among Germany's oldest, they would only in the best of circumstances be able to withstand the impact of a light plane.

It said none of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants would survive the crash of a commercial aircraft into its reactor.

A spokeswoman for the consumer protection ministry in Schleswig-Holstein, reponsible for safety at the Brunsbuettel plant, said that a number of in part secret measures had been taken since September 11, 2001 to prevent disaster.

A spokesman for federal environment minister Juergen Trittin said that nationwide security measures for nuclear power plants were being reviewed in light of the terrorist threat.

An agreement signed in June 2001 between the federal government and energy company executives agreed to gradually phase out the country's nuclear power plants.

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