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The Problem The crisis in a nutshell. Read The Plan Will a British company's proposal to turn waste into glass fix the problem or make it worse? Read The Graveyard Yucca Mountain, Nev., is the final resting place for America's nuclear waste ... or is it? Read The Alternative The French take a different approach: recycling their waste. Read Background    Vitrification: Turning spent nuclear fuel into glass. Read    A nuclear waste primer. Read    A timeline. Read Back to the beginning

In the glassmaking process that BNFL proposes to adapt to Hanford’s tank waste, Sellafield workers turn radioactive liquid into equally radioactive, but more stable, black glass. At the end, the waste is encased in a 4-foot-high stainless steel canister that resembles an old-fashioned milk can (photo with cutaway at right). At Sellafield, the boxy, windowless Vitrification Plant contains enough bewildering pipework to stretch from England to France. Humans cannot enter the "hot cell" where the transformation takes place, so workers must monitor the assembly line shielded by thick concrete and lead walls and watch through windows made of three-foot thick, solid lead glass.

See a step-by-step illustration of how the process works at Sellafield:

1. Steps 1-4 (31K graphic)
   High-level waste is burned and the residue mixed with glass.

2. Steps 5-7 (24K graphic)
   The resulting compound is decontaminated.

3. Step 8 (41K graphic)
   Glass logs are put into storage.