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Activists Halt Progress of Train Carrying Nuclear Waste

   VOA News 07 November 2010
   Anti-nuclear activists stand in front of the German riot police during
   clashes near Leitstade, northern Germany, 07 Nov 2010.

Photo: AP

   Anti-nuclear activists stand in front of the German riot police during
   clashes near Leitstade, northern Germany, 07 Nov 2010.

   German  police  clashed  Sunday  with activists trying to stop a train
   carrying nuclear waste from France to a storage facility in Germany.

   As  two  protesters  dangled  from  a  bridge above the train's route,
   dozens  of other activists blocked the tracks, temporarily halting the
   train.  Police  using  batons and tear gas dispersed the crowd and the
   train resumed its trip.

   German  police  are  bracing  for  massive  protests  in  the  town of
   Dannenberg, where the nuclear waste is due to be transferred to trucks
   for the remainder of its trip to a storage facility at Gorleben.

   Tens  of  thousands of people demonstrated Saturday at Berg, a town on
   the German side of the border with France. No violence was reported.

   The  nuclear  waste  was generated by German power plants and had been
   treated  at  a  French  reprocessing  plant, operated by Areva nuclear
   group.

   The  train  was  delayed  for  several hours Friday because a group of
   environmental activists chained themselves to tracks outside a station
   in Caen in northwestern France.

   The activists argue that the temporary storage facility at Gorleben is
   not  safe.  They  also  say  the  nuclear  waste  aboard the train has
   radioactivity  levels  twice  as  high as those generated by Ukraine's
   Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.

   A  spokesman  for  Areva, Christophe Neugnot, denied those claims, and
   says  the nuclear waste is sealed in safe containers. He described the
   train as "fortress on wheels."

   Nuclear  power  generation  is  seeing a comeback in many countries as
   they try to reduce dependence on oil, gas and coal for energy.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.