Dutch ship with A-waste heads for dumping at sea

A Dutch freighter loaded with nuclear waste to be dumped in the Atlantic Ocean put to sea late Wednesday night after being blockaded in a canal by environmental protesters. The blockade was lifted after the Dutch health and environment minister, leendert Ginjaar, promised to appoint a commission to investigate ways nuclear waste could be disposed of in the future, demonstrators said.

The Andrea Smits was carrying a load of 1,800 metric tons of concrete-lined steel drums containing low-to moderate-level radioactive waste from Dutch nuclear power stations, hospitals, and laboratories. The waste will be dumped some 300 miles off Land's End, southwest England.