Space Travel News  
CIVIL NUCLEAR
Police in Germany try to free blocked nuclear waste train

by Staff Writers
Dannenberg, Germany (AFP) Nov 8, 2010
German police Monday began dispersing activists who succeeded in peacefully blocking a train carrying nuclear waste from France to Germany after earlier protests erupted in violence.

Fruitless negotiations took place with the activists before police began to remove them from railway tracks at Harlingen in northern Germany in the small hours of Monday, a police spokesman told AFP.

Thousands of activists invaded the tracks at Harlingen which is about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Dannenberg, the final destination for the train before the waste is loaded onto trucks and taken to a storage facility.

Protests against the convoy had erupted in violence Sunday as police wielding batons charged around 1,000 activists trying to halt the cargo's progress.

Police moved in with batons and water cannon after the demonstrators attacked them, a spokeswoman said.

"I can confirm there were arrests and people injured but I am not able to say how many," another police spokesman said.

He added the activists appeared to be "members of the anarchist scene, who threw flares and fired tear gas at police."

The operation to clear the tracks looked like being a long one with between 3,000 and 5,000 people sitting on and near the tracks and police having to dislodge them one by one in sub-zero temperatures.

A spokesman for the Lower Saxony police union told AFP that he expected the 14-wagon train to remain where it was until dawn.

Both protesters and police were injured in Sunday's clashes, another police spokesman said in the northwestern German town of Lueneburg.

"There were wounded on the side of the protesters as well as among the police but I cannot say how many," the spokesman said.

The new clashes followed earlier altercations between police and protesters during which authorities deployed pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon to disperse some 250 anti-nuclear activists trying to sabotage the tracks.

Head of the German Police Union, Konrad Freiberg, told a regional newspaper the protests had reached "a new level of violence."

The 123 tonnes of nuclear waste, dubbed by activists "the most radioactive ever", are be loaded onto lorries at Dannenberg for transfer to the nearby storage facility of Gorleben, in central Germany.

The train is returning German nuclear waste that was treated in France by the Areva group but activists say the Gorleben facility is not fit for storage.

Activists were doing everything in their power to slow the progress of the train, which environmental group Greenpeace has called to be halted immediately "in the interests of public safety."

The head of one group of protesters called for calm while placing the blame for the escalating violence squarely on authorities.

"We do not want a debate about violence. We want a debate about nuclear power, yes or no," said Wolfgang Ehmke from the group "citizens' initiative Luechow-Dannenberg.

Germany's anti-nuclear campaigners have been outraged by a vote in parliament to extend the life of the country's 17 nuclear reactors which previously were meant to come offline in 2020.

Opinion polls show that most Germans oppose parliament's decision.

The last time the convoy took place, in 2008, the waste shipment was halted for around 14 hours amid a violent struggle between police and protesters.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


CIVIL NUCLEAR
Russia, Qatar Sign Memorandum Of Cooperation On Peaceful Nuclear Use
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Nov 08, 2010
Russia and Qatar signed on Tuesday a memorandum of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The document was signed in Moscow by Nikolai Spasski, the deputy director of the Russian state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom, and the Qatari ambassador to Russia, Ahmed Saif Al-Midhadi. The two countries agreed to cooperate in the development of Qatari laws regulating the use of nuclear ... read more







CIVIL NUCLEAR
Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Engine Helps Boost 350th Launch Of A Delta Vehicle

India Plans Two Rocket Launches Next Month

Azerbaijan signs deal with Arianespace to launch satellite

Boeing Launches Fourth Earth-Observation Satellite For Italy

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Function Analysis Drives The Development Of A Concept Mars Rover

Mars Rovers Mission Using Cloud Computing

Mars Volcanic Deposit Tells Of Warm And Wet Environment

Opportunity Keeps On Driving To Endeavour Crater

CIVIL NUCLEAR
New type of moon rock identified

Moon Express Enters $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition

Dead Spacecraft Walking

Surviving Lunar Dangers

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Kuiper Belt Of Many Colors

Reaching The Mid-Mission Milestone On The Way To Pluto

New Horizons Student Dust Counter Instrument Breaks Distance Record

Nitrogen Methane Dominate Icy Surface Of Eris

CIVIL NUCLEAR
e2v To Develop Image Sensors For PLATO Exoplanet Mission

Solar Systems Like Ours May Be Common

Astronomer Greg Laughlin To Talk About Earth-Like Planets

NASA Survey Suggests Earth-Sized Planets are Common

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Acceptance Testing On Second R-4D Development Engine Completed

Witch's Brew Aids J-2X Engine Hardware Assembly

Initial 30-Day Findings From DM-2 Rocket Engine Program

Commercial spacecraft launch test delayed

CIVIL NUCLEAR
China launching spacecraft at record rate

China Goes To Mars

China says manned space station possible around 2020

China Kicks Off Manned Space Station Program

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Flight Of The Comet

Flyby Observations To Offer Insight On Comet Nucleus

Odin Satellite Observes Water In Comet 103P Hartley 2

Ball Aerospace Built EPOXI Spacecraft Images Comet Hartley 2


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement