WRAP Rails damaged, protests over nuclear train ADDS train departs

Описание: (23 Nov 2011)
1. Various of train carrying nuclear waste leaving depot in Valognes
2. Mid of burning vehicle in rural area near Valognes
3. Police running to scene
4. Tilt down from smoke to burning vehicle
5. Close of burning vehicle
6. Mid of firefighters beginning to put out the fire; pan right to burning vehicle
7. Various of firemen hosing fire
8. Various of railway workers and police on rails
9. Wide of damaged rail
10. Najim Chiabri of SNCF (National Corporation of French Railways) walking along track
11. SOUNDBITE: (French) Najim Chiabri, SNCF::
"They used a special tool to elevate the rail and they have put ballast there to stop the rail getting back into it's usual position, so it creates a bump of about 5 to 10 cm. So for now no train will be able to go through. We will use stones to stabilise the rail so the train will be able to run again today."
12. Wide of police on tracks
13. SOUNDBITE: (French) Najim Chiabri, SNCF:
"It depends on the material we have, but I think in two or three hours trains will be able to run again"
14. Close of damaged trackside machinery
15. Various of burnt-out communications equipment
16. Train carriages moving (the carriages are attached to the nuclear waste-carrying train to carry officials and security personnel)
17. Rail worker attaches engine and carriages to nuclear wagons
18. Various of train
19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Julien Duperray, Areva spokesman:
"At Areva, we respect every opinion on nuclear energy. What we do not respect and what we do condemn is the fact that some people express their opinion by, let's say, some violent actions, violent means."
20. Wide of police about to board carriages ++MUTE++
STORYLINE
Riot police fired tear gas at anti-nuclear protesters while activists damaged a railway and delayed the departure of a train carrying recycled uranium to Germany on Wednesday.
The train finally left the depot at Valognes a bit later than scheduled, but is expected to meet protests and resistance all along its journey from a nuclear waste processing site on the English Channel to a storage site in northern Germany.
Protesters point to the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant after a tsunami earlier this year as an urgent reason to abandon atomic power.
Some 300 demonstrators clashed with police on Wednesday in fields in the village of Lieusaint, outside Valognes, the site of the rail depot from where the train loaded with the uranium treated by French nuclear company Areva departed.
Vehicles were set aflame, and riot police responded with volleys of tear gas. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries.
Separately, someone deliberately damaged a section of train track, said Najim Chiabri of the SNCF national rail authority.
"They used a special tool to elevate the rail and they have put ballast there to stop the rail getting back into its usual position, so it creates a bump of about 5 to 10 centimetres (2 to 4 inches)," he said. He said they would use stones to stabilise the track and allow the train to pass.
State-run Areva treats spent nuclear fuel from other nations, to the ire of those who contend such shipments are too dangerous for rail, sea or road.
Areva spokesman Julien Duperray said, "We respect every opinion on nuclear energy. What we do not respect and what we do condemn is the fact that some people express their opinion by, let's say, some violent actions, violent means."
In Germany, police are preparing a big security operation to protect the nuclear waste shipment, as protests are expected, despite a decision to speed up the country's exit from nuclear energy.

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