Where should Britain hide its nuclear waste?
Cumbria is considering whether to host a radioactive tomb
Overlooking the tennis courts and terraced houses of Millom, a pair of iron velociraptor sculptures stalk a landscaped garden of slate, gorse and buttercups. This prehistoric idyll is a £295,600 ($403,300) gift from the nuclear industry. It is one among dozens of rewards—critics call them bribes—for the Cumbrian town’s participation in Britain’s latest attempt to build an underground forever home for its most radioactive nuclear waste.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The spoils of nuclear waste”
From the September 27th 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
British men are driving less, and a culture is vanishing
Farewell to the road warriors
Should Britain deploy the navy to prevent small-boat crossings?
It would be politically popular, but previous efforts did not help
Why Labour’s growth mission remains grounded
Labour promised to get Britain building. So far it has failed
Keir Starmer’s Kevin Keegan moment
What if the prime minister just quits?
Why British bond yields are higher than elsewhere
Labour shares only some of the blame. But it cannot ignore the consequences
Blighty newsletter: Nigel Farage makes a foolish mistake
Joel Budd, our social-affairs editor, on Reform UK’s latest intervention on immigration