Apparatus (10) and a method for vitrifying hazardous waste includes a melting vessel (12) in which a stirrer (38) mixes hazardous waste and any other necessary components for forming a glassy mixture upon heating while an electrical current is applied across the melting vessel and the stirrer to provide electrical current flow, and a metallic containment vessel (46) of the apparatus receives the melting vessel so as to receive and contain any material that exits the melting vessel upon failure. Any failure of the melting vessel (12) is detected by a sensor (48). The containment vessel (46) is hermetically sealed around the melting vessel (12) to contain gases as well as any melted material received from the failed melting vessel (12). The sensing of the failure can be either by a pressure change in the hermetically sealed chamber (58) or by sensing of the presence of material received by the containment vessel (46) from the failed melting vessel (12) such as by an electrical circuit type detection.