Spent nuclear fuel from German power plants is sent abroad for reprocessing, but the contracts oblige Germany to take back resulting radioactive waste. Transports were suspended by the previous government in 1998 after radioactive leaks were discovered on some containers, causing a pileup of spent nuclear fuel at German power plants and of waste at the French reprocessing plant in La Hague. German and French leaders agreed on a resumption last January, with the German government saying it has tightened safety rules for the transports. German police on Friday broke up two camps of activists on private land near the railway between Lueneburg and Dannenberg. Last week they temporarily occupied a watch tower at the nuclear waste dump in Gorleben, south of Hamburg, where the waste material is to be stored.
Police expect thousands of demonstrators to try to block the transports.
During the last shipments, anti-nuclear activists protested along the route and police fought running battles with groups trying to block the arrival of the waste at Gorleben. The resumption of shipments has been a major headache for Germany's anti-nuclear Greens party, junior partner in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition. The transports are allowed under the agreement on long-term withdrawal from nuclear power negotiated last year by Greens Environment Minister Juergen Trittin and the environmentalist party has urged members to demonstrate peacefully. The Greens party, which has roots in the anti-nuclear movement but now sits in the government, has appealed for activists to keep their protests peaceful this year. Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.