Wouldn’t communities reject disposal in their backyards?

About 1/3 of U.S. citizens already live within 50 miles of a place where nuclear waste is stored above ground in cooling pools or dry casks. Deep Isolation would take that waste and put it thousands of feet underground, protected by over a billion tons of rock. This would make the waste safer and more secure than the status quo.

Deep Isolation has talked with people in many affected communities and in 2018 engaged the highly respected firm GfK Global to survey the opinions of people living in over 20 states. On average 82% of those surveyed prefer deep burial on-site rather than transportation over local roads to distant storage facilities. They do not want waste brought in to their communities from outside, nor do they want waste transported across their state. Read the results.

Deep Isolation will only work with communities and states that give their support for the permanent isolation of nuclear waste in their community and state. If a community and state are not interested in our permanent disposal method, they can still advocate for the waste to be shipped to an interim site, or a different disposal facility when one becomes available.

The decision process as to whether a community and state would prefer to transport waste to another location or dispose of it nearby is a complex one. Potential benefits of permanent isolation in their community and state include a timely solution that improves safety, minimizes transportation, adds jobs, and provides new fees for the use of land. Only if the community and state decide the benefits make it worthwhile would a site be selected there.

Deep Isolation will work with communities and states to help them make an informed decision about which option is the best fit for them. With over 60 locations in the United States that are currently storing nuclear waste in pools or dry casks, we have indications that at least a few of them are interested in exploring the option of a Deep Isolation facility.