Astrophysicist speeds up radioactive decay Other boffins sceptical By Lucy Sherriff Published Tuesday 1st August 2006 10:45 GMT
A German physicist thinks he may have found a way to accelerate the process of nuclear decay, dramatically shortening the half life of dangerous nuclear waste. Claus Rolfs, chair of experimental physics at Ruhr University, and his team suggest that embedding an alpha emitter in metal and cooling it to just a few degrees Kelvin could reduce its half life to perhaps just tens of years, instead of thousands. If he is right, the whole business of burying nuclear waste in concrete bunkers could be neatly side-stepped. Full story at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/01/faster_decay/ If true, gives some support to prior research on low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR; cold fusion). -Walter
