Protesters target nuclear waste train in France

Demonstrators in France have clashed with police on the day a train carrying nuclear waste is due to set off from Valognes.

Reports claim as many as 400 protesters turned up at the railway station on Wednesday morning, with some having set up a camp close to the site.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, before arresting five people.

Protesters are threatening to block the train as it carries 11 wagons of highly radioactive waste material to Germany, from where it originated.

Citing accidents at Chernobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan, anti-nuclear activists said the journey is an accident waiting to happen.

The German nuclear waste has been treated at a reprocessing facility in La Hague in Normandy and will now be transported to a storage site at Gorleben in northern Germany, where many similar demonstrations have happened in the past.

On the same route last year, protesters blocked the train in both Germany and France.

According to French nuclear operator Areva, all the necessary precautions have been taken and there are no safety issues.

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