Nuclear safety Old fuel and other waste from nuclear reactors is very radioactive and very dangerous. Some waste is recycled and used in reactors again, but a lot is kept in very strong containers under the ground. This worries many people. Could nuclear waste get into water in the ground one day? Could people steal nuclear waste and use it to make a bomb? Some nuclear waste will be dangerous for 20,000 years: that is a long time to keep something safe! On 25 May 1986, nuclear fuel in a reactor at the Chernobyl power station in the Ukraine began to get hotter and hotter. Workers could not cool the reactor, and finally it exploded. Radioactive fuel and control rods were thrown high into the