SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea began drawing down a massive deployment of riot police on Monday to defuse tensions in a town where residents have staged violent protests against a government plan to build a nuclear waste dump.

About 8,200 police have been locked in daily confrontation with residents of Buan, a coastal town 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Seoul, since violent clashes first erupted there in July.

In July, local authorities in Buan offered an islet off its coast as the site for South Korea's first nuclear waste dump in return for millions of dollars in subsidies from central government.

Buan residents have since staged frequent rallies, some of them violent. They burned police vehicles and attacked government officials and facilities. Dozens of residents and police officers were injured in clashes.

The National Police Agency said it was withdrawing 2,700 police on Monday after residents' protests turned peaceful in recent days.

"We hope that peace will continue. If that's the case, we will pull out the remainder of our forces there," said police Lt. Lim Byong-taek.

The easing of tensions paves the way for renewing dialogue between the government and residents.

Although South Korea first introduced atomic power in 1978 and now has 18 nuclear power plants, the country has not built a nuclear waste dump because of opposition from the public. The government says time is running out because temporary storage facilities at nuclear power plants will be full by 2008.