German nuclear train reaches Dannenberg railhead

A consignment of nuclear waste being transferred from France to a storage facility in northern Germany has finally reached the rail depot of Dannenberg.

There it is to be transferred to lorries for its last leg by road to the storage facility at Gorleben on the Elbe River.

The train carrying the six casks of nuclear waste was delayed several times by hundreds of protesters, some of whom chained themselves to the rail tracks.

Latest reports say there have been more clashes between protesters and some of the eighteen thousand police deployed to ensure safe passage of the nuclear consignment. The transfer to the lorries is expected to take twelve hours, but it is not clear when the operation will begin.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service