Nuclear train leaves Normandy on Sunday

Protesters have painted the train tracks yellow and hung flags with anti-nuclear symbols on signal posts.

In recent years, Germany - which has no reprocessing facilities of its own - has sent large quantities of spent fuel to France and Britain for treatment.

The red-green coalition government has said it will honour its legal obligation to take the spent fuel back.

A deal between the German Government and power companies was struck last year to phase out nuclear energy, but the shutdown will take about 20 years. Far too slow, say anti-nuclear protesters.

Pressure on government

So the security operation - the biggest of its kind in post-war Germany - is set to become a regular ritual.

While most protesters accept they can only delay the shipments, they say their aim is to make the shipments so costly to protect that the government will be forced to speed up its nuclear phase-out.

This year, the protests have been given added poignancy by fears of a possible terrorist attack against nuclear installations.

The transport ministry has already announced that air traffic will be restricted in the airspace above the convoy route. However, it said the precautions were routine for nuclear waste shipments.