The UK's most "challenging" radioactive wastes - the official documentation

Publication date: 1 July 2002

Summary

Almost 90 per cent of Britain's hazardous nuclear waste stockpile is so badly stored it could explode or leak with devastating results at any time, reported The Observer newspaper on Sunday 30th June 2002.

The information came from a study carried out jointly by two government advisory committees (The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee and the Nuclear safety Advisory Committee). Their report reveals that up to 24 nuclear storage sites around the UK house volatile material that could explode on contact with water, spontaneously combust in the air, or leak in water.

Click on the link above to read the official letters and documentation, describing these 'challenging wastes.'

Despite finding itself in the middle of a radioactive waste crisis that it cannot control, the UK government is actually considering building up to ten more nuclear power stations.