Nuclear waste disposal. Drilling machinery being used to excavate underground bore holes into which nuclear waste may be placed. Before long-term nuclear waste is stored underground, the area must be examined for geological activity. This is intended to prevent earthquakes and rising water tables releasing the radioactive waste. Long-term nuclear waste, produced by nuclear fission reactions in nuclear power stations, will remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of years. This drilling is being carried out at Bure, near Meuse, France. Photographed in 2004.