IF YOU bury it deep enough, high-level radioactive waste will
seal itself into the rock and can be safely forgotten. So claims
one geochemist, who believes he has the answer to a growing
global problem. The world's nuclear plants have accumulated vast
stocks of highly radioactive waste. By 2010, Britain alone could
have 2000 cubic metres of the waste emitting 100 million
terabecquerels of radioactivity. Worldwide, high-level waste is
currently stored above ground, and no government has a clear
policy on its eventual disposal. While most experts believe that
burying the waste is the safest bet in the long term, the
problem is finding sites that everyone can agree are
geologically stable. Decaying radioactive isotopes release heat.
As a result, high-level waste must be constantly cooled
otherwise it becomes dangerously hot. Many experts want to store
waste above ground until it has decayed and is cool enough to be
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