Summary
Radioactive waste can remain dangerous to humans for 100,000 years. Nations with nuclear power are building underground storage facilities to permanently house it, but how might they mark these sites for future generations? The nuclear industry is turning to artists for creative solutions. How might artists create a warning that will still be understood and heeded so far into the future? Radioactive Art meets artists whose work deals with issues around nuclear legacy, and visits the nuclear agency in France that has sought their input.
Presented by Gordon Young and Produced by Beatrice Pickup.
With contributions from: Jean-Noël Dumont - Memory Division at ANDRA, the French nuclear agency Stéfane Perraud - Visual Artist and creator of the 'Blue Zone' Aram Kebabdjian - Writer and creator of the 'Blue Zone' Mari Keto - Art jeweller and creator of 'Inheritance' Erich Berger - Artist and creator of 'Inheritance' Ele Carpenter - Curator of the Nuclear Culture Project funded by the Arts Catalyst and curator of the 'Perpetual Uncertainty' exhibition at the Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden Richard Edmondson - Operations Manager at Sellafield Ltd Tim Hunkin - Cartoonist and Engineer, owner of Novelty Automation in London.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.5 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path |
| 0:19.5 | through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the Maze, listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:34.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:42.0 | Recently here in the UK a time capsule was dug up by accident 32 years early. |
| 0:50.0 | It had been buried underneath the Millennium Dome in London, what's now called |
| 0:57.2 | the O2 Arena. Builders at the site unintentionally unearthed it. |
| 1:03.0 | Inside were items chosen by viewers of the famous children's TV programme Blue Peter. |
| 1:09.0 | There was a Spice Girl CD, photos of Princess Diana, a Tamaguchi, a step into the 90s. |
| 1:17.7 | It's a symbol of our interests in the last millennium. |
| 1:21.0 | Possibly. I guess it was supposed to be a message into the not so distant future |
| 1:28.4 | if people are curious about something they want to see it so they preserve it maybe you can have |
| 1:35.8 | hotels in the region but of course symbols change they're all about context. |
| 1:43.0 | Jewelry has power. |
| 1:45.0 | People put so much emotions on them, so they are always more than just the objects. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm Riana Dylan, and today's seriously is about how a symbol might be viewed in the future. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.