Britain wanted nuclear waste to be stored in the earth’s crust

Based on existing stocks, approximately six or seven boreholes would need to be drilled across an area roughly the size of a football field. Holes will be drilled through hard rocks such as granite.

Each borehole will be five kilometers deep and reinforced using concrete and steel, while the lower two kilometers will be used to store waste.

Nuclear waste containers will be placed in the hole and then lined with concrete or similar material, while the remaining three kilometers of the shaft will be filled with alternative mixtures of concrete and expanding clay.

Mr Gibb, professor of chemical, materials and biological engineering, said the drilling method would not only be delivered faster but would also be cheaper than the Government’s current GDF plans.

He added: “From a technical perspective, it’s something that could be shown to be perfectly feasible and feasible in a few years, and then you’d probably have to wait another 10 years.”

“But it does mean that high levels of bad nuclear waste could be eliminated for good within 10 to 15 years, at a cost well below what we are looking at now.

“I think we need to push for an open door here but it keeps being slammed in our faces even though it’s only in the UK.”

He said the borehole’s location deep underground meant that any fluid in the surrounding rock would likely be highly saline, making it denser than normal groundwater and less likely to move.

This meant that even if the borehole was somehow compromised, the chances of radioactive material leaking out were much lower than the risk of leaking from a GDF under the ocean.