A controversial shipment of US bomb-grade plutonium has arrived in the French port of Cherbourg.
Dozens of boats, including an Irish boat, observed the arrival of the two British-registered ships, escorted by armed commandos, at the port in northern France.
Activists question the wisdom of transporting such security-sensitive cargo at a time of heightened risk of terror attacks globally.
French nuclear energy firm Areva, whose Cogema unit will recycle the 140 kilgrams of plutonium, said it would only release information on the shipment from Charleston, South Carolina, a few hours ahead of its arrival.
The shipment is part of a post-Cold War agreement between the United States and Russia to get rid of plutonium from excess nuclear warheads.
Greenpeace criticised the transport, saying that on arrival in Cherbourg the plutonium would be driven over 1,000 kilometres in vulnerable trucks to a factory in southeast France.
Areva's Cogema unit will recycle the plutonium into nuclear fuel at its Cadarache and Marcoule plants in southeastern France and ship it back to the United States, which plans to use it in an electricity-generating reactor.