near-meltdown of one reactor at Three Mile Island in the United States. Although there were not actually any radioactive emissions, the public had been told that this accident was impossible. The second and much more serious incident was at Chernobyl in the former USSR in 1986, which had a devastating effect locally and spread radiation as far as the UK. Although this was a result of poor standards and bad operation, it destroyed public faith in nuclear power. People realised that not all countries were capable of operating this lethal technology and that its effects were not limited by national boundaries.
             Another problem with nuclear energy has been the failure to find a safe method of disposing of nuclear waste. This by-product of fission and reprocessing has a half-life of thousands of years and could potentially be used to make nuclear weapons. To prevent harm and terrorist threat the waste must be disposed of so that it is unobtainable. Deep burial sites were planned to be ready by the 1980s but n
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