German protest delays Sellafield-bound waste

Protesters briefly delayed a train taking German nuclear waste to the reprocessing plant at Sellafield today by sitting on the…

Protesters briefly delayed a train taking German nuclear waste to the reprocessing plant at Sellafield today by sitting on the tracks.

Police said they arrested 48 anti-nuclear activists at the protest near Bremen. They carried off about 30 activists who blocked the train for five minutes just after it left the Unterweser nuclear power plant.

A truck driven onto the tracks by protesters and three activists who chained themselves to the rails later along the route were also removed, leading to 18 more arrests.

The train carrying the nuclear waste containers was to head south through Germany and into France en route to the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

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Germany's anti-nuclear movement regularly stages protests against nuclear waste transports, which it considers dangerous.

Germany sends spent fuel from its 19 nuclear power plants abroad for reprocessing under contracts that oblige it to take back the waste for storage in Germany.

AP