The search for safe nuclear waste storage

As radioactive waste accumulates from nuclear power plants, the Yucca mountain storage facility nears completion. Not all citizens celebrate this solution, however.

The production of energy from nuclear power plants seems at first like a miraculous source from which we can quench our thirst for energy.

The resulting waste presents a significant challenge, however. In the United States, the chosen solution seemed simple: dig a massive pit in a mountain and transport the waste for permanent storage. And yet, the Yucca Mountian nuclear waste repository lies unfinished, bruised and battered from political opposition.

As waste accumulates and alternative solutions remain unfound, what's the future for this mountainous dilemma?

Mega Builds is a video series from BBC Future looking at giants of engineering from around the globe.

Video script: Wouter van de Klippe, from the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London.