Dutch nuclear activists arrested

OOST-VLISSINGEN, The Netherlands -- Dutch police have arrested 16 anti-nuclear protesters in demonstrations at two nuclear plants.

The protests on Thursday delayed shipments of nuclear waste destined for France and Britain.

Nine people from the activist group Omkruit were arrested after blocking railway tracks and delaying the departure of a train carrying spent nuclear fuel from the Borssele nuclear plant to a French processing plant at Le Havre.

At a separate protest, seven members of the environmental group Greenpeace were arrested when they tried to block a road to prevent a truck carrying spent nuclear fuel rods from the defunct Dodewaard plant from reaching the port at Vlissingen.

The truck eventually reached the port after the protesters were cleared from the road, police said. The fuel was destined for the British Nuclear Fuel processing centre at Sellafield, northern England.

"We have a special unit to deal with that and they succeeded (in removing the protesters) in less than an hour," Zeeland police spokesman Jan van Mourick said.

Greenpeace protesters delayed train shipments of spent nuclear fuel from Borssele to Le Havre in January.

The group did not take part in Thursday's blockade of the railway after a court ruled last month it had no legal right to block shipments to France.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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