How to dispose of nuclear waste
One of the biggest challenges facing the nuclear industry today is how to deal with the lethal radioactive waste which has accumulated over decades. Governments across the world are trying to find a permanent solution to keep the waste safe and secure.\nPresenter Theo Leggett visits Sweden, where progress is being made with deep geological storage.\nMaria Fornander from Sweden\u2019s nuclear operator SKB, explains how the waste is initially placed under water, and will then be buried in cast iron 500m underground.\nTheo visits the \xc4sp\xf6 Hard Rock laboratory, where SKB project director Ylva Stenqvist is testing the techniques and equipment.\nRolf Persson of the Oskarshamn Municipality, says other countries planning similar ventures could learn from Sweden\u2019s approach.\nNeil Hiatt, the chief scientific adviser to the UK\u2019s waste management group Nuclear Waste Services, speaks to Theo in Sweden - how might it work in practice?\nIn the UK, similar proposals have faced local opposition, Marianne Birkby runs a pressure group, Radiation Free Lakeland, opposing a possible waste facility in the North of England.\nAnd Dr Paul Dorfman, from the University of Sussex, explains why he believes plans for geological disposal are at best premature \u2013 and potentially impossible to deliver safely.\nProducer and presenter: Theo Leggett\n(Image: Radioactive containers. Copyright: Getty)