REMILLY (France), Nov 24: French authorities on Thursday ordered a trainload of reprocessed nuclear waste to be halted en route to Germany near the border for 24 hours to try to avoid more protests.

Riot police battled anti-nuclear protesters when it began its journey in northern France on Wednesday and thousands more anti-nuclear demonstrators were expected to try to block it once it crossed the frontier.

The train was halted at Remilly junction 50kms from the border while nuclear company Areva, French rail firm SNCF and police decided which of three possible routes it can now take, a security source said.

A heavy police presence was deployed in and around the small town and on the tracks leading to and from the station, where a dozen buses full of riot police were on standby, a reporter said.

German police were due to take over from their French counterparts once the train, carrying the last German nuclear waste to be reprocessed in France, resumes its 1,500-kilometre trip to Gorleben in eastern Germany.

Last November a similar convoy took 91 hours to arrive at its final destination — an entire day longer than planned — as it was dogged the length of the route by French and then German protesters.—AFP