Which Rural Area Will Take The UKs Nuclear Waste?
9th September 2024
A repeating tone - blip, blip, blip - is the audible reminder that we are in one of the most hazardous nuclear sites in the world: Sellafield.
That sound - pulsing from speakers inside the cavernous fuel-handling plant - is a signal that everything is functioning as it should.
That is comforting because Sellafield, in Cumbria, is the temporary home to the vast majority of the UK's radioactive nuclear waste, as well as the world's largest stockpile of plutonium.
That waste is the product of reactions that drive the UK's nuclear power stations and it is highly radioactive.
It releases energy that can penetrate and damage the cells in our bodies, and "it remains hazardous for 100,000 years", explains Claire Corkhill, professor of radioactive waste management at University of Bristol.
Sellafield is filling up - and experts say we have no choice but to find somewhere new to keep this material safe.
Nuclear power is also part of the government's stated mission for "clean power by 2030". More nuclear power means more nuclear waste.
Read the full BBC article with photos and graphs
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