Protesters delay nuclear transport to Germany

A Castor nuclear waste container is being loaded from a train to a flat bed truck at the embarking station in Dannenberg November November 10, 2008. The controversial shipment of eleven Castor containers with spent German nuclear fuel arrived in Dannenberg on Monday and will be loaded onto trucks before transportation to the nearby Gorleben intermediate storage facility in northern Germany after it left the French reprocessing plant of La Hague on Friday by train. [Agencies]

A rail worker rides on one of the carriages carrying eleven Castor nuclear waste containers into the embarking station of the northern German town of Dannenberg, south of Hamburg November 10, 2008. The controversial shipment of eleven Castor containers with spent German nuclear fuel will be loaded onto trucks in Dannenberg before transportation to the nearby Gorleben intermediate storage facility in northern Germany after it left the French reprocessing plant of La Hague on Friday. [Agencies]

German riot police remove protesters from a railway track during a demonstration against the transportation of Castor nuclear waste containers, in Tollendorf near Dannenberg November 10, 2008. The controversial shipment of eleven Castor containers with spent German nuclear fuel arrived in Dannenberg on Monday and will be loaded onto trucks before transportation to the nearby Gorleben intermediate storage facility in northern Germany after it left the French reprocessing plant of La Hague on Friday. [Agencies]

German riot police remove protesters from a railway track during a demonstration against the transportation of Castor nuclear waste containers, in Tollendorf near Dannenberg November 10, 2008. The controversial shipment of eleven Castor containers with spent German nuclear fuel arrived in Dannenberg on Monday and will be loaded onto trucks before transportation to the nearby Gorleben intermediate storage facility in northern Germany after it left the French reprocessing plant of La Hague on Friday. [Agencies]

A train transporting Castor nuclear waste containers passes near Fulda some 70 km north of Frankfurt November 9, 2008. The controversial shipment of eleven Castor containers with spent German nuclear fuel is on its way to the intermediate storage facility in northern Germany after it left the French reprocessing plant of La Hague on Friday. [Agencies]

German police say some 1,000 people were demonstrating Sunday along the route of the 11 atomic waste containers as they headed to the Goerleben storage site in northern Germany.

The containers will be transferred from the train to trucks for the final few miles (kilometers) to the site. They are expected to arrive Monday. Thousands of police are on hand to secure passage of the containers.

Spent fuel from Germany's nuclear power plants is sent each year to France and returned reprocessed to the site. Goerleben is a traditional focus of anti-nuclear protests.