What is "geomelting"

Geomelting is the process by which dangerous, contaminated material (such as radioactive waste and heavy metals) is mixed with clean soil and melted down to create an extremely hard glass product which immobilizes nearly all of the contaminants in the initial mixture. Any gaseous contaminants released during the melting process are treated separately.

Developed in 1980 by the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), geomelting occurs in one of two ways: in situ (on-site) treatment of hazardous materials and off-site treatment of such materials (i.e. waste is transported to a treatment facility).