More than 3,000 anti-nuclear activists attempted to block the delivery of atomic waste from France to the German town of Gorleben, on November 20, 2005. The activists staging a sit-down blockade on the railway track were arrested and farmers' tractors forming a barricade along the route confiscated. The controversial waste depot, environmentalists fear, would become permanent and contaminate the local water supply. Local farmers fear the radioactive waste in the area would affect their produce. But the German government has refused to shut down the site. The waste is produced in Germany, but sent to the French nuclear facility at La Hague in Normandy for reprocessing. France insists that the waste return to its country of origin.