WASHINGTON D.C. -- Catholic University of America has been awarded contracts totaling $36 million to convert liquid nuclear waste to glass at sites in South Carolina and Washington state.

The funding announced Friday is one of the largest research contracts in the Washington, D.C., school's history.

Its Vitreous State Laboratory is a leader in the field of vitrification, which renders liquid nuclear waste safe and stable.

The lab already is working at the nation's two largest nuclear waste sites along the Savannah River in South Carolina and the Columbia River in Washington state. The new contract runs for six years.

Once nuclear waste is converted to glass, it remains radioactive but is contained.

It will take decades, though, to convert millions of gallons of waste to glass.