WHO WANTS THE WASTE?
A landmark event for nuclear waste came on 2 December 1942, when scientists researching nuclear weapons in the US made the first nuclear reactor in a Chicago sports hall. By 1955 US scientists had recommended burying waste underground. But where could they put it?
The first American site chosen for high-level waste, in Lyons, Kansas, was rejected in the 1970s. In the 1980s the US chose Yucca Mountain, Nevada. But that was also rejected in 2009. In the meantime, some radioactive waste has been tipped into the sea. This largely stopped in the 1970s, and was completely abandoned by 1993. Because most radioactive waste still has valuable radioactive uranium in it, it’s often recycled, not buried.