Podcast Special: how best to close down a nuclear power plant?

When a nuclear power plant was built on the coast of Cumbria in the 1940s, nobody had much idea about what to do with nuclear fuel once it had been spent. Today that place is Sellafield, engaged in Europe's largest clean-up of nuclear waste in what is perhaps the world's most complicated nuclear site. It's got its own police force, its own railway station, and its own unique set of challenges - one that seemed to baffle governments and private contractors alike.

So how should nuclear reactors be safely decommissioned? In a special podcast sponsored by the Nuclear Industry Association, Fraser Nelson puts the question to the experts. Our guests are Jamie Reed, Corporate Affairs Manager for the Sellafield site (and the town’s former MP); Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the NIA; and Professor Gordon MacKerron, an academic specialising in nuclear energy.