And that mutualising the Rock flunked that test.

BBC: Will Northern Rock be re-mutualised?

It was Mr Brown who, at the start of his decade-long tenure as chancellor, insisted on stripping the Bank of England of its role in supervising banks, a reform that failed its first real test with Northern Rock.

ECONOMIST: Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown

Already Finnish nuclear utility Posiva is test-drilling the rock beneath Olkiluoto island with the idea of interring waste one-third of a mile down.

FORBES: The Big Dig