How to bury radioactive waste
BBC Inside Science
BBC
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
A small but mighty problem: what to do with the radioactive waste we have already made? Professor Clare Corkhill from the University of Bristol gives us the run down on how radioactive waste is created.
In Onkalo Finland, Victoria Gill visits the first national facility able to provide a long term solution to nuclear waste by burying it deep underground, which is due to begin operations this year.
But how can you stop future civiliations from digging it up again? Journalist Mark Piesing has written on the issue, and artist Gair Dunlop at the University of Dundee has for several years co-convened an international, interdisciplinary collaboration known as the Nuclear Culture Research Group looking at the best ways of deterring trespass over hundreds of millions of years hence.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton and Victoria Gill Producer: Alex Mansfield Editor: Martin Smith Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might like our podcast too. |
| 0:12.1 | You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me, Nick Grimshaw. |
| 0:15.2 | And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music. |
| 0:18.2 | All the news, all the cultural happenings in the UK and beyond. |
| 0:22.2 | And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can also enjoy lots of |
| 0:27.1 | playlists, music mixes and live radio. Everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio |
| 0:33.2 | 3 Unwind. But obviously start with our our podcast sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. |
| 0:40.1 | So if you like music, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:46.6 | Hello and welcome to BBC Inside Science from the World Service with me, Marnie Chesterton, |
| 0:49.4 | and, as you'll hear shortly, Victoria Gill. |
| 0:57.1 | This week we're devoting the whole show to nuclear energy, or rather one of its downsides, the waste. |
| 1:03.3 | Since the 1950s, countries' power grids have welcomed in the atomic era. |
| 1:08.9 | Nuclear efficient, splitting the atom, usually uranium, produces large amounts of heat, |
| 1:11.5 | which makes steam, which powers turbines. |
| 1:18.4 | It's a reliable 24-7 source of electricity that doesn't add to our greenhouse gas problem. |
| 1:22.5 | There is one small but mighty problem. |
| 1:25.4 | What to do with the radioactive waste? |
| 1:30.3 | Over decades, radioactive waste has been stored in pools or other special containers near the site of nuclear plants. |
| 1:33.3 | It's safe, but it's also a short-term solution. |
| 1:37.3 | Acceptable while we wait for science to think up something better, |
| 1:42.3 | suitable for keeping radioactive waste out of harm's |
... |
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