  The recent suggestion that dramatic changes may occur in the lifetime of
alpha and beta decay when the activity, in a pure metal host, is cooled to a
few Kelvin, is examined in the light of published low temperature nuclear
orientation (LTNO) experiments, with emphasis here on alpha decay. In LTNO
observations are made of the anisotropy of radioactive emissions with respect
to an axis of orientation. Correction of data for decay of metallic samples
held at temperatures at and below 1 Kelvin for periods of days and longer has
been a routine element of LTNO experiments for many years. No evidence for any
change of half life on cooling, with an upper level of less than 1%, has been
found, in striking contrast to the predicted changes, for alpha decay, of
several orders of magnitude. The proposal that such dramatic changes might
alleviate problems of disposal of long-lived radioactive waste is shown to be
unrealistic.
