The Oct 21-27, 2006 edition of New Scientist has a featured story on
speeding up radioactive decay, mostly by embedding the material in metals
at ultra-low temperatures. ("Half-life heresy" pp. 36-39; the cover
teaser is "Nuclear waste, yes please".) Focusing mostly on the work of
German physicist Claus Rolfs, he in turn was inspired by other work that
showed that fusion between deuterons in tantalum metal happened
"unexpectedly often".
This is from last week's edition but is on US newsstands now; the story is
available online to subscribers and possibly in a few weeks to
non-subscribers.
http://tinyurl.com/ym2nnp
