A Solution to Nuclear Waste

Although nuclear power plants have been made reasonably safe, the remaining problem has been what to do with the radioactive waste they produce. If that problem could be solved, nuclear power would be fully viable.

Now there may be a solution. Amec has purchased the rights to a refinement of a process called vitrification. This improved technique, called geomelting, creates a kind of glass which is 20% waste with 80% sand and is far more resilient than concrete. This glass should last 200,000 years, which is long enough for the radioactive material contained inside to decay down to safer elements.