On high-level nuclear waste, the world's governments are registering low levels of activity. The US pulled the plug on its planned Yucca mountain repository in Nevada last year. The UK has been inviting local communities to "volunteer" to host a storage facility since 2008. Meanwhile France and Germany shunt waste between each other, hoping something will turn up.
That something may be "transmutation". Using particle accelerators to convert waste into elements with shorter half-lives - perhaps coupled with thorium reactors to generate electricity - looks increasingly attractive (see "Nuclear technology: the lure of transmutation"). It is not a new idea, or a panacea. The generated waste would still remain dangerous for hundreds of years. But given the existing waste problem and the looming energy one, a partial answer is better than none.
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