The biggest consignment to date of German nuclear waste left the southwest German town of Woerth and crossed into France, police said. They said two separate shipments of waste reached Woerth earlier in the day on Wednesday without any major incidents, despite protests from anti-nuclear activists, and were assembled into one convoy that left around 7:30 PM (1200 IST) and crossed into France 20 minutes later. The convoy was, however, held up for 20 minutes at Bischeim, near the French city of Strasbourg, by a dozen French and German protesters who chained themselves to the tracks before being removed by police.

Of the 12 waste containers, nine are destined for the nuclear waste treatment centre in La Hague in northern France, while the remaining three are headed for the treatment plant in Sellafield, northwest England . The nuclear train was composed of a consignment of waste from power stations at stade and Brunsbuettel in the north of Germany, which arrived in Woerth from Hamburg, and a consignment bringing waste from power stations at Muelheim-Kaerlich, Philippsburg and Neckarwestheim, all in the southwest.

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In Hamburg, around 150 demonstrators staged a peaceful protest against the shipments, while police removed 17 others who had sat down on the railway line. In Karlsruhe, six anti-nuclear demonstrators were arrested on the railway tracks on Wednesday afternoon.

Germany, which is committed to phasing out nuclear power in the long term, has no facilities of its own for treatment of waste produced by its atomic power stations.
Bureau Report