Nuclear waste is produced at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to reactors to the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel. Much of this nuclear waste will remain hazardous for thousands of years, leaving a poisonous legacy to future generations.

Dangerous radioactive isotopes such as caesium, strontium, iodine, krypton and plutonium are created when operating a nuclear reactor. Plutonium is particularly dangerous in that it can be used in nuclear weapons if it is separated from the irradiated nuclear fuel in a chemical treatment called reprocessing.