London — Deep Isolation EMEA Ltd. has published a study, commissioned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), that provides an initial assessment of the role that the company’s directional borehole technology might play in supporting the UK Government’s strategic commitment to deep geological disposal of nuclear waste. The report can be found here. 

Key findings include:

• Borehole disposal cannot replace the UK’s need for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF), because it is not suited to the full diversity of the UK’s waste inventory.
• However, the waste that is potentially compatible with deep borehole disposal includes all the UK’s heat-generating waste, accounting for 96% of forecast activity levels in 2200, assuming it can be appropriately packaged.
• Cost estimates for the use of deep borehole technology vary across different geologies and between single-site and multi-site approaches.  Six scenarios for disposing all of the UK’s current and future forecast high-heat generating wastes vary in an initial estimate between £2.98 billion and £4.45 billion.

Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), the NDA business charged with developing and operating a Geologic Disposal Facility for the UK’s inventory of higher-activity radioactive waste has welcomed the study, which supports its mandate to review new and emerging technologies which could have the potential to improve the long-term management of the UK’s higher activity radioactive wastes.   

The study concludes that deep borehole disposal cannot replace the UK’s need for the GDF but may nevertheless have a helpful role to play in the disposal of some of the UK’s nuclear waste inventory, subject to further technical and business case development and assessment.  Deep Isolation’s recommendations to NDA include:

• Undertaking more detailed business case work to assess the possible role for the technology as part of the NDA’s integrated waste management strategy
• Engagement in international collaboration on demonstration of deep borehole technology.

“We are excited to have delivered this project for the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority” said Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation.  “NDA is a global leader, and I welcome their commitment to exploring the benefit of new and innovative options for nuclear waste disposal.” 

Publication of this study follows announcement by the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on February 8^th 2023 that it is providing grant support to Deep Isolation EMEA Ltd to develop in the UK a corrosion-resistant canister capable of safely encapsulating spent fuel assemblies for disposal within deep borehole repositories 1 to 3 kilometers underground. Funding for this project comes from the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.  The canister will be tested at the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center, a new nonprofit initiative being launched with multinational support from government and industry bodies.

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About Deep Isolation

Deep Isolation specializes in deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste. We work with government waste management organizations to design a directionally-drilled borehole disposal solution that meets strict safety standards alongside local community preferences. We tailor our patented solution to the specific waste form, available geology options and local regulatory requirements of each client, with implementation through our partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.  Projects include advanced reactor and SMR waste disposal, stand-alone borehole disposal of small existing nuclear waste inventories, and working alongside mined repository programmes to increase safety and reduce costs by moving certain waste streams into boreholes.

About NDA and NWS

NDA is charged, on behalf of government, with the mission to clean-up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost effectively – overcoming the challenges of nuclear clean-up and decommissioning to leave the 17 nuclear sites ready for their next use. NWS is the part of the NDA group responsible for Developing a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) for the permanent disposal of higher activity radioactive wastes. The NWS – GDF – Annual Report 2020-2021 estimates the total whole life cost of the GDF program to be in the region of £20-£53 billion.

About the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center

The nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center was established on 1 December 2022 to provide interested entities and governments worldwide with an independent organization through which to commission projects that characterize and advance the technical readiness of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal technologies.  The Board of Directors and Executive Director were announced on 12 January 2023, and full public launch was held on 27 February 2023 at the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, Arizona.

Press Contact

media@deepisolation.com
Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
www.deepisolation.com

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Phoenix, AZ — The new Deep Borehole Demonstration Center officially launches today at Waste Management Symposia 2023. The Center is an independent, nonprofit, science-driven organization – funded on a multinational, public-private-partnership basis – that aims to advance the maturity of the safety case for deep borehole disposal and the technical readiness levels of the disposal concept.  

The Launch Executive Director of the Center is Ted Garrish, former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy.  Garrish said: “I am proud to have been asked by the international nuclear community to take a lead in responding to the clear global demand for a deep borehole demonstration facility.  The International Energy Agency forecasts a need to double the world’s nuclear capacity between 2020 and 2050 if we are to achieve global net zero, yet the ‘unsolved problem’ of waste disposal continues to be a major barrier to public support for nuclear power. The steps we are announcing today represent a major advance for one of the safest and most cost-effective solutions to that problem: deep borehole disposal.” 

Work at the Center kicked off in February 2023, when it worked with industry partners Deep Isolation, Amentum and NAC International to conduct a first series of tests in Cameron, Texas. The tests demonstrated the compatibility of a newly designed waste canister for Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel with standard lifting equipment for the oil and gas industry for use in deep borehole disposal operations.

As Garrish explained, “The tests this month were an important step in showing how we can combine standard, mature technologies from both the nuclear and the oil and gas sectors – but this is just the start of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder program plan of projects that will cumulatively deliver an end-to-end (and entirely non-radioactive) demonstration of the on-site deep borehole disposal process.  I am delighted to be publishing that plan today and look forward to working with our members and stakeholders to refine and implement it.”

The Board of Directors of the Center come from Deep Isolation, Southern Company, and The National Radiation Protection Institute in Czechia, reflecting the public-private-partnership and international nature of this nonprofit initiative.   Liz Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation and Chair of the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center’s Board, said at the launch,

“At last year’s Waste Management Symposium, Deep Isolation presented new research showing that eight-out-of-ten leaders across the international radwaste sector want to see more international collaboration on borehole disposal, with an end-to-end demonstration being their number one priority.  Since then, we have been working with the international community to develop a practical response to that demand, and I am delighted that today we are able to announce the results: the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.”

Initial members of the Center include organizations representing waste disposal interests in nine countries, from both the public and private sectors.   This includes the ERDO Association.  Formed by the waste management organizations from seven European countries, ERDO published in 2022 the results of a project that found that deep borehole disposal is a technologically feasible and potentially cost-efficient solution for high-level or long-lived intermediate level waste from Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Norway, and recommended that the key next steps are a full-scale demonstration of site characterization, drilling, waste emplacement and borehole sealing, combined with development of a comprehensive safety case. The Deep Borehole Demonstration Center responds to that recommendation.

The work of the Center will be informed by an independent Advisory Committee, currently being established to ensure its work is transparent to the local community and subject to scientific peer review.  The Chairman of the Advisory Committee, Professor Neil Chapman (Emeritus Professor of environmental geology, risk assessment and radioactive waste management at the University of Sheffield) said, “I look forward to working with the local community, my fellow scientists and international policymakers in the Advisory Committee to act as a ‘critical friend’ in support of the Deep Borehole Disposal Center.  It is doing important work to explore and broaden our radioactive waste disposal options, and I welcome its commitment to transparency and scientific scrutiny.”

Stop by Booth 530 at the Waste Management Symposia to learn more about the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.  

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Learn more about the Board Members and the Center’s Launch Executive Director

Read the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center’s Strategic Plan

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About the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center

The nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center was established to provide interested entities and governments worldwide with an independent organization through which to commission projects that characterize and advance the technical readiness of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal technologies.

Press Contact

info@deepboreholedemo.org

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BERKELEY — Deep Isolation, a leading innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions, will offer insights into its updated waste canister design and discuss the new Deep Borehole Demonstration Center at Waste Management Symposia 2023.

CEO Liz Muller will kick off the company’s WM2023 presence at the Women of Waste Management panel at 6:30 p.m. MST on February 28. Leaders will share their thoughts and ideas about the impact women make in the nuclear industry. 

“I am looking forward to participating in this panel with such a group of knowledgeable women. The nuclear industry has made significant progress toward gender inclusivity, but there is still more to do”, says Liz Muller, CEO at Deep Isolation.

Muller will also speak together with Ted Garrish at the Demo Zone, an event at 10:00 a.m. MST on 1 March where the two speakers will show pictures of the first tests conducted and discuss the launch of the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.

On March 1 at 1:00 p.m., Dr. Ethan Bates, Director of Systems Engineering, will present a paper outlining the history of interest in deep borehole demonstrations, and the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center’s early technical objectives.

“The ultimate goal is for the Center to host progressively advanced deep borehole experiments and tests, ultimately leading up to an end-to-end (non-radioactive) demonstration of the deep borehole disposal technology,” Dr. Bates said.

Work at the Center kicked off in February 2023, when it worked with industry partners to conduct a first series of tests that demonstrated the compatibility of a newly designed waste canister for PWR spent nuclear fuel with standard lifting equipment for the oil and gas industry for use in deep borehole disposal operations.

Also March 1 at 1:30 p.m., Senior Engineer Matt Waples will discuss Deep Isolation’s progress designing canisters for radioactive waste transport, storage, and disposal in deep boreholes.

Deep Isolation has spent the past several years collaborating with its partner and shareholder, NAC International (NAC), on a canister designed for the deep geological disposal of pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies in boreholes. In the past year, significant strides have been made to enhance canister system safety, lifting and handling operations, manufacturability, and economic viability.  

“Our work with NAC refining and simplifying the canister design and manufacturing process has provided valuable insights that are expected to significantly reduce borehole repository costs while maintaining rigorous safety standards,” Waples said.

At last year’s Waste Management Symposium, Deep Isolation and NAC presented the preliminary design of the borehole disposal canister, demonstrating confidence in the structural, thermal, shielding, and criticality safety analyses for loaded canisters in storage, transportation, and disposal configurations. Since then, the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced on February 8 2023 grant funding for Deep Isolation to partner with Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (NAMRC) to develop a UK supply chain for Deep Isolation’s disposal canister.  NAMRC will manufacture two Technology Readiness Level 7 disposal canisters, for laboratory testing in the UK and more extensive field testing at the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center in Texas.

Stop by Booth 530 at the Waste Management Symposia to learn more about Deep Isolation.

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About the Deep Isolation

Deep Isolation specializes in deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste. We work with government waste management organizations to design a directionally-drilled borehole disposal solution that meets strict safety standards alongside local community preferences. We tailor our patented solution to the specific waste form, available geology options and local regulatory requirements of each client, with implementation through our partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.  Projects include advanced reactor and SMR waste disposal, stand-alone borehole disposal of small existing nuclear waste inventories, and working alongside mined repository programs to increase safety and reduce costs by moving certain waste streams into boreholes.

Press Contact

Sophie McCallum:
media@deepisolation.com
Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
www.deepisolation.com

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Berkeley — Deep Isolation US LLC (Deep Isolation) entered into a Mentor-Protégé Agreement with Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, LLC (SIMCO), the new Management and Operation contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). SIMCO’s parent is Bechtel National, Inc.

The Parties agreed that establishing a mentor-protégé relationship will enhance the capabilities of Deep Isolation as it relates to performance assessment, licensing requirements, and permit compliance for nuclear waste disposal operations on behalf of the Department of Energy. The Parties believe that development in these areas will improve the Deep Isolation’s ability to win work disposing of nuclear waste using its deep borehole technology.

“This is an important milestone for Deep Isolation because it will allow us to add capacity on many of the elements that need to happen for a large disposal contract,” said Deep Isolation CEO and co-founder Liz Muller. “We are excited to work with SIMCO and the team from Bechtel and look forward to doing everything we can to assist with the effective and safe operations of the WIPP facility.”

Rick Kacich, Operations Manager for Bechtel National, Inc. is responsible for the mentor-protégé relationship, and stated, “We have been working with Deep Isolation since 2019, and are impressed with their approach to innovation, with the prospect of improving safety and reducing cost. We are delighted to assist them with building capacity through this mentor-protégé relationship.”

The mentor-protégé agreement could also lead to opportunities outside of the WIPP facility.

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About Deep Isolation

Deep Isolation specializes in deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste. We work with government waste management organizations to design a directionally-drilled borehole disposal solution that meets strict safety standards alongside local community preferences. We tailor our patented solution to the specific waste form, available geology options and local regulatory requirements of each client, with implementation through our partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.  Projects include advanced reactor and SMR waste disposal, stand-alone borehole disposal of small existing nuclear waste inventories, and working alongside mined repository programs to increase safety and reduce costs by moving certain waste streams into boreholes.

Press Contact

Sophie McCallum:
media@deepisolation.com
Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
www.deepisolation.com

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London — Deep Isolation EMEA Ltd. has won a grant from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly BEIS) to engineer a corrosion-resistant canister capable of safely encapsulating spent fuel assemblies for disposal within deep borehole repositories 1 to 3 kilometers underground. Funding comes from the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The project will support the UK’s net-zero targets for 2050 by tackling a fundamental challenge to the success of small modular reactors: the need for safe, secure, scalable and cost-effective spent nuclear fuel disposal solutions.

With a goal of meeting UK regulatory requirements for deep borehole disposal, this work will help advance the technological maturity level of Deep Isolation’s disposal canister designs. The project, a collaboration between the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the University of Sheffield and NAC International Inc., will also include the manufacturing and testing of a prototype canister tailored to UK requirements, thus establishing a canister manufacturing supply chain.

“This canister provides an option for disposal in a deep borehole that brings greater flexibility and potential cost savings for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste,” said Chris Parker, Global Head of Business Development and Managing Director of Deep Isolation EMEA. “By giving the UK choice and flexibility in disposal, it helps ensure new nuclear as a vital component of the UK’s 2050 net zero strategy.”

Parker explained that in the UK deep borehole technology cannot replace the need for a traditional mined geological disposal facility (GDF), but that it has the potential to reduce costs and save time for the UK’s GDF programme because it can accept selected high heat generating waste streams at much greater depth.

“An added benefit is that the UK’s advanced manufacturing capabilities provide us with an ideal supply chain with which to service the growing international demand for deep borehole disposal,” Parker said.

The project will give UK manufacturers an early mover advantage in the global borehole disposal market that could be valued at more than £100 billion in the coming decades. Each canister would dispose of spent fuel that has enabled the generation of 132 million kWh of low carbon electricity, representing a saving of nearly 27,000 tonnes of CO 2 per canister.

Alan Woods, Strategy Director at Rolls-Royce SMR, says: “I am delighted to be on the project board for this Deep Isolation-led project, because the innovation they are bringing to market – small, modular disposal of radioactive waste in deep boreholes – will be an important enabler of the international SMR market, and a great export opportunity for UK manufacturers.” Rolls- Royce SMR aims to complete its first unit in the UK in the early 2030s and build up to 10 by 2035.

Deep Isolation specializes in borehole disposal of nuclear waste, and has more than a dozen contracts across three continents. Projects include advanced reactor and SMR waste disposal, stand-alone borehole disposal of small existing nuclear waste inventories, and working alongside mined repository programmes to increase safety and reduce costs by moving certain waste streams into boreholes. Deep Isolation has been granted 19 patents and has more than 90 notices of invention.

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About the Deep Isolation

Deep Isolation is a leading global innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions. Driven by a passion for environmental stewardship and scientific ingenuity, the company’s patented solution of advanced nuclear technologies enables global delivery through its partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.

Press Contact

media@deepisolation.com

Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
www.deepisolation.com

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About the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is focused on the energy portfolio from the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This department will provide dedicated leadership focused on delivering security of energy supply, ensuring properly functioning markets, greater energy efficiency and seizing the opportunities of net zero to lead the world in new green industries.

Leading economy-wide transformation by backing enterprise and long-term growth, generating cheaper, cleaner, homegrown energy and unleashing the UK as a science superpower through innovation.  
  
Funded through the Government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which provides funding for low-carbon technologies and systems. Decreasing the costs of decarbonisation, the Portfolio will help enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change.

Berkeley, Calif. — A new Deep Borehole Demonstration Center will be publicly launched Feb. 27 at the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, Ariz. It was founded as a new nonprofit organization and is open to participation from governments, utilities, nuclear operators and research organizations interested in studying nuclear waste disposal technologies for worldwide deployment.

The nonprofit’s Board of Directors includes Deep Isolation and inaugural members from the National Radiation Protection Institute in the Czech Republic, U.S.-based utility Southern Company and Deep Isolation’s CEO. The Board has appointed Ted Garrish, former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy, to serve as Launch Executive Director.

“This is the beginning of being able to offer countries a new option: a deep borehole repository,” Garrish said. “This gives countries an alternative, and in some cases, boreholes could also work alongside mined repositories for particular waste streams, such as from advanced reactors. The Deep Borehole Demonstration Center will allow multinational and cross-organizational collaborations to begin the work of characterizing the entire system. This is how we get to the next stage.”

The impetus for the Center was an international survey of waste management organization stakeholders published by Deep Isolation and the University of Sheffield in March 2022. Four-out-of-five stakeholders surveyed for the report said they want more international collaboration to advance deep borehole disposal and agreed overwhelmingly that the key next step is a demonstration of the end-to-end technology.

“Our customers and prospective customers have been asking for something exactly like this — a facility designed to advance the development of the deep borehole repository concept so they can feel confident that, as they commission new nuclear power plants to meet net zero goals, they will be able to simultaneously plan for a flexible, affordable waste disposal solution,” said Deep Isolation CEO Liz Muller, chair of the Center’s board.

Using a membership-funded model, the Center will draw on international participation to demonstrate the viability of deep borehole technology and to develop improved guidance and international consensus around how regulators can best assess the safety case for deep borehole disposal.

The Center’s mission is to advance the maturity of the safety case for deep borehole disposal and the technical readiness levels of the disposal concept, including characterization, construction, canister handling, emplacement and retrieval.

The Center’s board also includes Jitka Mikšová, Head of the RWM Division at the National Radiation Protection Institute (SÚRO), Czech Republic, and Dr. Richard Esposito, R&D Program Manager for Geosciences & Carbon Management at Southern Company. The Board is also establishing an independent science-driven Advisory Committee to assist in ensuring transparency and scrutiny of the Center’s work.

Dr. Esposito of Southern Company said: “Deep borehole disposal brings an important new option to the table for geologic disposal of nuclear waste. We look forward to working with public and private sector partners worldwide to both evaluate and demonstrate the viability of the technology through the new Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.”

Mikšová of SÚRO said deep borehole disposal is especially of interest to countries with small waste inventories where a conventional mined geological repository is not economically efficient.

“The Center foundation is creating the right platform for the necessary demonstration of the feasibility of this disposal option, and one through which international teams can contribute to improving the borehole disposal technology with respect to the environment and further adapting it to country-specific conditions and building public confidence,” she said. “On behalf of the Czech partners I am representing, we are looking forward to engaging in the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center work.”

Further details of the government and industry organizations that are backing this work will be announced at Waste Management 2023. In the meantime, interested parties who would like to become members are welcome to contact the Center’s Launch Executive Director.

Garrish said, “The Center is ultimately about answering the age-old question, ‘What about the waste?’ which is inevitably posed by governments considering the merits of nuclear power. This is the question that we’ve got to answer. And that is what the Center was created to do.”

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About the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center
The nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center was established to provide interested entities and governments worldwide with an independent organization through which to commission projects that characterize and advance the technical readiness of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal technologies.

Press Contact

Kari Hulac
info@deepboreholedemo.org