The train was heading for the northern Gorleben interim storage depot, where it is due to arrive on Monday. Thousands of activists are waiting near the depot to stage more protests to disrupt the transportation of the waste. The protests, which began on Friday, have been mostly peaceful.

Around 15,000 police are accompanying the nuclear waste transfer in Germany.

Activists protesting against such shipments have clashed with police in previous years. In 2002, protesters disrupted the passage of a train by burning tyres on the tracks and by chaining themselves to the rails.

On Sunday in Gusborn near Gorleben, several hundred demonstrators joined 150 farmers in a blockade with their tractors on a street leading to the Gorleben depot, a temporary facility that protesters fear will become a permanent waste depot.

They also worry it will contaminate the local water supply.

Earlier, about 1,000 people took part in an anti-nuclear rally in Gusborn, including some on horses and bicycles.

The waste is originally produced in Germany but transported to La Hague in France for reprocessing. France insists the waste must return to the country of origin.