A Mongolian environmental group staged a protest Thursday over the government's plan to build the first nuclear power plant in the uranium-rich country.

More than 100 people gathered in Sukhbaatar Square in central Ulan Bator, holding posters and shouting slogans in the cold and snow.

Mongolian Environmental Protection Organizations Federation president J. Batbold demanded the parliament annul the nuclear energy law adopted in 2009, drop the power plant plan and suspend the issue of a uranium mining permit.

The government plans to start construction of the plant in 2021. The country has abundant uranium reserves, estimated at 1.4 million tons.

Batbold also asked the government not to accept nuclear waste, which has been a sensitive issue since widespread local media reports last year, denied by the government, that Mongolia was receiving nuclear waste from Japan and the U.S.

One protestor told reporters the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan should raise doubts in the Mongolian government over its nuclear power plant plan. The government should give up the plan and instead work on renewable energy development, he said.