"Trains loaded with nuclear waste travel unprotected through French cities all the time," said Stephane Lhomme, spokesman for Sortir du Nucleaire (End Nukes), a leading French-based lobby against nuclear power.

Sortir du nucleaire also objects to a French government decree, passed in August, that enables the authorities to restrict the publication of information on the proection and control of nuclear material.

Lhomme has been summoned to appear before a court in Bordeaux next week accused of blocking a freight train loaded with spent nuclear fuel at the rail station in the southwestern city in September.

He said he could be sentenced to up to five years jail if found guilty.

TERRA.WIRE