News / France

French police evict protesters at nuclear waste site

Thursday, 22 February 2018 10:27 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 22 February 2018 10:27 AM ]

This handout photo, released by the French Gendarmerie Nationale, shows an operation by French gendarmes to evacuate the opponents of a nuclear waste burial site in the Lejuc woods in Bure, France, early on February 22, 2018. (Via AFP)

French police have launched an early-morning surprise operation to evacuate opponents of a nuclear waste burial site in the country’s east.

The operation, conducted before dawn on Thursday, came after the French Interior Ministry announced the evacuation of activists from local groups and environmentalists who opposed a government plan to store long-life nuclear waste 500 meters below ground in the Bure area of eastern France.

Backed up by an earth mover, scores of police in body armor moved in before daylight to evict the protesters, according to reports.

This handout photo, released by the French Gendarmerie Nationale, shows an operation by French gendarmes to evacuate the opponents of a nuclear waste burial site in the Lejuc woods in Bure, France, early on February 22, 2018. (Via AFP)

The plan to build the nuclear waste burial site in impermeable clay in Bure has yet to receive government approval.

Nuclear waste remains highly radioactive for thousands of years, and all countries using nuclear energy struggle with the question of where to store it safely.

The La Hague reprocessing site in northern France acts as a de facto nuclear waste storage site, as the European country has no permanent solution for deep geological storage.

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