What is nuclear waste?

Radioactive waste is created by generating electricity using nuclear power, making and maintaining nuclear weapons, and using nuclear technology in hospitals, laboratories and industry.

What is radiation?

Everything is made up of atoms. At the centre of every atom is a nucleus. Some materials have unstable nuclei which give off particles or rays. This is called ionising radiation.

How long is it dangerous for?

Radioactive materials become less radioactive over time as unstable nuclei decay to stable ones. Some lose most of their radioactivity in minutes or hours. Others take hundreds of thousands of years.