A US appeals court has ruled an 85-year-old nun and two men did not commit sabotage when they broke into a defence site for storing enriched uranium for bombs.
Sr Megan Rice and two men had their convictions for sabotage overturned.
But their convictions for damaging government property were upheld.
The court ordered they be resentenced on the latter convictions, based on time already served.
In 2012, the three cut through four layers of fences and entered the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
They spray-painted antiwar slogans, splashed blood and hammered on exterior walls of the facility as part of their protest against nuclear weapons.
“They did not cut [the fences] to allow Qaeda to slip in behind,” the ruling stated.