FRANKFURT. Police in the Lower Saxony city of Lüneburg on Sunday morning found a section of tracks had been sawed away from a rail line that is to be used next month for controversial radioactive waste shipments. The damage was discovered before it caused any harm.

Germany and France agreed last month to resume cross-border shipments of waste from German nuclear power plants, suspended three years ago when some containers were found to be leaking radiation. Before the suspension, the rail transports back and forth between Germany and a French reprocessing facility were a focal point for German anti-nuclear protesters, who often clashed with police. An agreement to resume the transports was part of the government's effort to win final consent from the power industry to close Germany's 19 nuclear plants over the next three decades.

During its time in opposition, Alliance 90_The Greens, the junior partner in Germany's governing coalition, opposed the shipments. But German Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin, a Green, now says that in view of the planned atomic energy phaseout, party members should allow the shipments to proceed. (AP )

Feb. 18, 2001

© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000