ANTI NUCLEAR ACTIVISTS ILIE TIED TO THE RAILS NEAR DANNENBERG, 2001-03-28 (photo)

An anti-nuclear activist from the environmentalist group of "Robin Wood" lies tied to an iron pipe fixed in about one meter deep concrete between the rails while federal German police try to release him and three others in Sueschendorf some 30 km (20 miles) west of Dannenberg early March 28, 2001. The four activists cause a huge delay in the transportation of six helium-sealed so-called Castor containers carrying nuclear slag from a French plant that reprocesses fuel rods from German reactors. The first shipment since a ban imposed three years ago took one of the biggest peacetime security operations Germany had ever seen to keep the line open. The cargo was due at Dannenberg late in the evening, from where the six wagon-sized Castor containers were to be unloaded and moved 25 km (16 miles) by road to the storage facility in Gorleben on Wednesday. WR/WS