A transport of four containers carrying highly radioactive nuclear waste from abroad travelled through Germany for the first time in four years on Wednesday.
The train reached an storage facility in Philippsburg, near the western city of Karlsruhe, at approximately 5:45 pm (1645 GMT), German nuclear specialist GNS said.
Despite the threat of protests by anti-nuclear activists, the train had travelled across France and then through south-western Germany, the firm said.
The transport involved waste remaining after the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from Germany in La Hague, France. Germany is obliged under international law to take back these remnants.
In the past, such transports have been accompanied by massive protests. At times, there were riots with anti-nuclear activists uprooting stones from the railway bed en masse.
But since Germany decided on a nuclear phase-out in 2011, these protests have ebbed. The last transport from abroad to Germany four years ago also proceeded without disruption.
In the coming days, the containers will be transferred from the rail wagons to a road vehicle, GNS said. They will then be brought to the interim fuel element storage facility on the site of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in Philippsburg.
A long-term site to store the waste has not yet been determined.
Police officers stand as a train with containers carrying highly radioactive nuclear waste arrives in Philippsburg. For the first time in four years, a Castor transport with highly radioactive waste from abroad has passed through Germany. René Priebe/dpa
