There is nowhere like it on Earth. Hidden away on the shore of West Cumbria sits the most concentrated collection of radioactive wastes anywhere on the planet. Much of it has been all but abandoned for decades, for want of any way to make it safe or anywhere to dispose of it.
Eight years ago, Britain’s top scientists at The Royal Society called one of these stockpiles – the world’s largest store of plutonium – “a severe security risk”. Just yards away are two other waste silos that have been labelled Europe’s two most dangerous industrial sites. Another store holds hot and highly radioactive waste accumulating from reprocessing, which has the potential to cause widespread contamination across northern England. And that’s before we mention the sealed remains of a fire there almost 60 years ago, the world’s first major nuclear accident.