Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published in the March edition of Nuclear Engineering International’s magazine, which is available via a subscription here. You can view our paper, “Implementing Deep Borehole Disposal: Study of International Stakeholder Views from Regulatory, Policy & WMO Communities,” presented at the March Waste Management Symposia, here.

By Chris Parker

Deep Isolation EMEA Ltd, Managing Director

New research affirms that there is growing interest worldwide in the advancement of deep boreholes as an option for the disposal of nuclear waste.

Deep boreholes offer a scalable, modular, and more economical disposal solution for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, particularly for countries with smaller waste inventories that may make the safety case for a mined facility costlier to demonstrate.

A study Deep Isolation conducted last year analyzed international stakeholder views across 18 countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to determine perceptions about deep borehole repositories for nuclear waste disposal. The results show that those surveyed agree overwhelmingly that the next best step for learning more about this solution is an end-to-end technology demonstration.

The deep borehole opinion research, which was preliminarily shared at the IAEA 2021 International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management and was presented in full at Waste Management Symposia 2022, is based on interviews and surveys with members of the regulatory, policy and waste management organizations. The majority of those surveyed said they believe boreholes potentially have a significant role to play and cited benefits including choice and flexibility thanks to a reduced physical footprint coupled with cost and time savings compared to centralized mined repositories. 

Given that proposed changes to the EU taxonomy would dictate that nuclear waste and decommissioning funds must be in place and that there must be operational facilities for the disposal of low and intermediate-level waste streams, with a plan in place for a high-level waste disposal facility to be operational by 2050, the benefits of being able to potentially deploy a borehole repository in a fraction of the time of a mined repository could make this option even more attractive. Deep boreholes also could potentially be co-located with a mined repository if needed.

Research followed rigorous 7-step qualitative and quantitative process

The target research group was senior-level stakeholders with specific responsibilities for geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste disposition, selected from the following six categories: National government policymakers; waste management organizations; nuclear and environmental regulators; international agencies that influence national policies; university researchers; and national laboratories and other research institutions specifically focused on radioactive waste disposal.

Following a seven-step qualitative and quantitative research methodology, 37 people completed an online survey, with 10 also participating in in-depth interviews; two additional subjects completed in-person interviews only.

The study was conducted by Deep Isolation internal experts as well as one external researcher, Prof. Neil A. Chapman of the University of Sheffield. Chapman is a leading expert in the geological disposal of radioactive wastes, with four decades of experience in environmental, strategic and waste management in the international nuclear industry.

“After years of seeing largely unstructured commentary on the potential role of deep borehole disposal in national waste management programs, this work has at last focused light on what a wide range of policy and decision-makers really think,” Chapman said. “The general consensus that (deep borehole disposal) could be incorporated into a suite of safe disposal solutions, considerably improving strategic and economic flexibility, ought to encourage countries to get together now and support an early multi-national demonstration project. This is becoming increasingly important as the world moves closer to a low-carbon nuclear power future.”

Benefits of deep boreholes

Survey participants were queried about the key potential opportunities and benefits that they believe deep boreholes can offer; and the policy/regulatory, technical/operational and societal challenges that remain to be addressed.

When it comes to benefits, 74 percent of respondents tended to “agree” or “strongly agree” that deep boreholes have a potential role to play in ensuring the safe geological disposal of the world’s higher activity radioactive waste.

The benefits highlighted by those surveyed included: Increased choice and siting flexibility, including the reduced physical footprint compared to traditional mined repositories; the potential for cost reductions across national waste disposal programs; potentially attractive features from the perspective of community consent; and potential for economies of scale when it comes to regulatory processes.

Deep Isolation’s borehole designs have potential for providing additional siting flexibility because they leverage directional drilling and geo-steering techniques to emplace disposal canisters in either vertical, inclined, or horizontal orientations in stable rock formations that have been isolated from the biosphere for millions of years.

The great majority of those interviewed said boreholes would likely be “suitable” or “highly suitable” for small waste inventories of spent fuel, for example fuel from research reactors, and/or for vitrified high-level waste that could be disposed of at or near a nuclear power plant.

As one regulator stated: “Some countries have to deal with wastes that are long-lived and hazardous for a long time, but maybe don’t have a major nuclear program and volumes are relatively small…. [borehole disposal] would be an attractive option because building a mined repository for relatively small volumes can seem unfeasible.”

But borehole disposal is not only an option for small inventory countries. More than half of the respondents believe that it is likely to be suitable, at least to some extent, for both small and large inventories.  As one survey respondent said, “There’s a lot of work that demonstrates that potential usefulness is there for the U.S.A, for Germany — and therefore obviously for all nations.”

All told, 8-of-10 stakeholders said they want to see greater international collaboration on borehole disposal, with the No. 1 priority being a full-scale (non-radioactive) demonstration.

“Even if you had a hundred percent confidence that it would work as designed, I don’t think people would be comfortable until it actually has been used,” said one study participant. “So I think you would have to actually demonstrate the technology in order to gain acceptance by the entire community.”

Demonstrating technical readiness

Although spent fuel handling and deep drilling technologies are mature, Deep Isolation understands there are aspects of the deep borehole technology that will require additional technology maturation prior to industrial-scale deployment. 

Deep Isolation recently completed its first preliminary technology readiness level assessment, and borehole expert Dr. Ethan Bates, Deep Isolation Director of Systems Engineering, presented a paper on this topic at Waste Management Symposia.

Overall, the technical assessment concludes that spent nuclear fuel handling above ground is the most mature technical industry process and that demonstrating borehole stability and canister emplacement is the highest priority in terms of technology development planning. 

Other processes such as pre-closure monitoring, canister retrieval, and borehole sealing may also require additional development and demonstration, but the extent will depend on regulatory and risk-informed engineering requirements that are still being developed.

Given the readiness levels of Deep Isolation’s technology and processes, the company agrees with stakeholder study participants that an end-to-end demonstration should be a top priority.

We are committed to working with the international community to launch the planning process for a long-term collaborative permanent borehole demonstration.

Working with industry partners and government research institutions, we hope to assemble an independent, science-driven, non-profit task force of experts and citizens to oversee the effort. It would be the first ever public-private partnership devoted to researching how deep boreholes can be used to permanently and safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel and other types of high-level radioactive waste.

The goal of the project is to advance the technical readiness levels of deep borehole disposal in a progressive, cost-effective and strategic manner, accelerating the preparation for global deployment of this as a licensed disposal technology.

Since Deep Isolation was founded more than five years ago we’ve sought to assemble an advisory board that includes preeminent experts, Nobel laureates, leaders in nuclear energy science, technology, and policy, and entrepreneurs who value innovation.

In addition to those leadership qualities, inclusion and diversity is also important to us as a company. We were co-founded by and are led by a woman — historically not the norm in nuclear — and last year we launched an internal Inclusion and Diversity Committee to help support and educate our employees. So we were pleased to recently welcome an expert in this field, Monica Mwanje, to our advisory board.

Mwanje entered the nuclear sector in 2003 and in 2015 founded a consultancy company, Liverpool, England-based MM Creative Services, to provide strategic consultancy services for organizations seeking growth and transformation in nuclear and other regulated sectors. Specializing in inclusion and diversity, she works with multi-disciplined technical teams, boards, and leadership teams, advising them on how to develop, implement and maintain inclusive working cultures.

We posed a few questions to her to learn more about her experiences and what advice she shares with companies as well as those beginning their careers in nuclear.

Q. You started out as a chemical engineer, doing graduate work at Sellafield, the former nuclear energy plant in England. What was it like working at a decommissioning plant, and how did your experience influence the development of your career in nuclear?

It was very interesting and informative. I had the opportunity to work on facilities projects and go to view them too. This gave me a better appreciation of the realities and challenges associated with implementing and deploying designed solutions into those sorts of environments.  I was able to draw on this experience as my career advanced and keep it in mind when I was working on design projects or facilitating technical workshops.

Q. As of 2019, women only comprised 22.4 percent of the nuclear workforce, according to the IAEA, so you were clearly a trailblazer when you got your start 18 years ago. What challenges did you personally face when it came to feeling included in the workplace? How did those experiences inspire you to teach employers to provide a more welcoming work environment for people who may be in the minority due to their race, gender or sexual orientation?

I have a lot of admiration and respect for those from minoritized groups who entered the nuclear sector before me and who broke down some barriers. They were the trailblazers. Being honest, my experiences are very mixed when it comes to feeling and being included in the workplace. Early in my career I faced challenges around my race, gender and age. Knowing what it’s like to feel and be excluded, seeing peers experiencing exclusion at times, too, and being frustrated by limited (sometimes non-existent) progress on the matters, inspired me to see what I can do to help improve experiences for others.

Q. Last summer your consultancy service MM Creative Services co-organized the third annual Inclusion & Diversity in Nuclear conference, which Deep Isolation attended for the first time. What were your goals in founding this event and perhaps share some highlights and what you’ve learned from it so far.

When I first proposed we hold a conference, my goals were simple. I wanted to bring people together so we could talk, understand issues, share and learn from one another. Without this feedback, how would we know what people are experiencing, or what they need, or what organizations are doing well that should be amplified? Personally, I also wanted to learn from the experts we engaged to speak and lead workshops, and further broaden and deepen my knowledge so I can be a more inclusive colleague when working in and with different teams. Highlights were all the different keynote speakers we have had, the different panelists we’ve engaged, and the speakers who shared their lived experiences. The workshops I attended were also really informative and prompted me to reflect and think about what I will do differently.  Different parts of each conference stick out for me. I go back and rewatch recordings from the conferences (https://vimeo.com/idnuclear ) as I pick up on different things each time. A conversation I remember from the first conference in 2019, was during some networking, two individuals formed a connection and agreed to share best practices and exchange information around inclusion policies. It was really good to see people talking and helping each other out.

Q. As a consultant to nuclear companies, what does it take to succeed in this industry? Can you share some wisdom that you try to impart upon your clients?

I recommend patience and being prepared that it may take a while before things come to fruition. Like any industry, it’s important to understand the market and any requirements or qualifications needed that will enable a client to place a contract with your organization. I like to conduct reviews with my clients so we can understand their current status and identify and implement an action plan to close any gaps and put them in an improved position to win those contracts.    

Q. Knowing what you know now, what career advice would you give your younger self?

Seek mentors and a career sponsor sooner.

Q. Following up on that, what advice do you give nuclear industry employers seeking to diversify their workforce?

Check how inclusive your organization currently is and be honest about retention issues and any feedback you’ve received from marginalized or minoritized employees. Work on improving that element of performance and improving the work environment so that everyone feels included and able to do their best work. Hiring people into an environment that isn’t welcoming, will likely result in any hiring gains being undone, due to people leaving and going to work elsewhere.

Q. And finally, what advice can you give to those starting out in their careers, when it comes to navigating an industry that lacks diversity.

Develop your network and don’t be afraid to ask for help. For me, having some peers in my network who understood some of the challenges I faced, because they faced some of them, too, helped me work out ways around or through some of the barriers. Seek mentors and sponsors who are supportive of you, your development and your career goals. If your organization has an inclusion and diversity plan and you’ve not heard about nor seen any progress reported, if you have the confidence to — ask for an update.  

Can recruiting an ace volleyball player lead to a 17-year business partnership? Apparently so, says Steve Airhart, CEO of Freestone Environmental Services, the newly acquired wholly-owned subsidiary of Deep Isolation.

Airhart, who studied geology at the University of Montana and launched a career in environmental consulting at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was playing in a city volleyball league in the early 1990s when he heard that local environmental scientist Dan Tyler had just moved to town and had played college volleyball at Purdue University. He figured Tyler would be a great addition to the league team, so he didn’t waste time to make an introduction and invited him to a tryout.

Tyler, who founded Freestone Environmental Services in 1998, lived up to his volleyball reputation and joined the roster. Soon he and Airhart began collaborating off the court on waste management projects. As Freestone took on additional contract work at the Department of Energy’s Hanford nuclear weapons clean-up site, it made sense to become business partners in 2004.

These days Tyler serves in a high-level advisory role while Airhart leads the day-to-day operations. The recently announced acquisition of Freestone by Deep Isolation marks the next chapter in Freestone’s 23-year history, so we sat down with Airhart to learn more about his passion for environmental services and nuclear waste management.

Q. What intrigues you most about your role as an environmental consultant?

A. Environmental consultants provide a broad range of services to ensure compliance with the myriad of complex federal and state regulations. I focused my early career on the characterization and remediation of contaminated sites which allowed me to apply my science and geology background. Contaminated site characterization is particularly intriguing because it involves unraveling the mystery and interconnections of the site geology, hydrology, and geochemistry. That’s what makes our job interesting and challenging. When the location involves a contaminant release, we have to overlay our understanding of the subsurface to determine how the contaminant has moved and how to remediate it to reduce the risk it poses. Our work incorporates science and technology to understand the problem, the risk, and the regulatory framework that governs the cleanup. The final objective and reward is to remove a problem that otherwise would pose an ongoing risk to humans, biota, and the environment. It’s very satisfying.

Q. It sounds like your expertise fits nicely with Deep Isolation’s mission — to permanently dispose of nuclear waste in deep boreholes.

A. Interestingly I studied geologic disposal of radioactive waste at the University of Montana. Digging tunnels in granite for mined repositories intrigued me at the time, and later through my connections, I got into the work at Hanford. I’ve worked around many borehole drilling operations, though not to the depth that Deep Isolation’s looking at and for different purposes.

Q. What are some particularly interesting projects you’ve worked on?

A. Although I’ve been fortunate to work on complex clean-up projects at Hanford, some other notable projects involved smaller clean-up projects that I conducted independently as a private consultant.  These involved cleaning up after fuel-truck and railroad spills in remote locations in eastern Oregon. The logistics of managing the cleanup and ultimately receiving approval from the regulators was very gratifying.  Also, I’ll never forget working in the Alaskan Pribilof Islands where a group of us provided site characterization work on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That project tested our abilities to work in a very remote and challenging environment.  Invariably, remote projects involve unexpected complications requiring creative field troubleshooting solutions — which at the time can be stressful but also become the most memorable and rewarding.  

Q. What excites you about being acquired by Deep Isolation?

A. While sometimes acquisitions lead to one company being absorbed by another, that’s not the case here. The goal is for each company to leverage the other’s strengths. Freestone will continue operating independently but will have opportunities to share technical experience to inform Deep Isolation projects. For example, our geologists could provide useful insights into Deep Isolation’s feasibility studies, where they study how a deep borehole repository for nuclear waste will work in certain types of rock deep underground. And certainly our experience with government contracts — we also have a prime contract with NOAA and previously held a prime contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  — could help inform Deep Isolation’s future contracts. On the Deep Isolation side, they’ve gained worldwide recognition for their solution in a very short timeframe, and we foresee this giving Freestone an opportunity to expand its footprint beyond Washington state.

Q. Speaking of government contracts, your primary customer is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford site, where you provide scientific and regulatory support to the prime contractors. How would you characterize Freestone’s role with this project?

A. We have been very fortunate to establish ourselves as a go-to small business among the Hanford prime contractors.  We don’t take our responsibilities to our clients lightly, because ultimately their clean-up decisions must be effective and compliant and meet the expectations of their client, the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as a large number of stakeholder groups and regulators.  The Hanford site encompasses 586 square miles.  It is considered the largest environmental cleanup in the nation, involving a complex 50-year history of chemical storage and operations. Our work at the site varies and involves support to subsurface characterization activities, environmental data verification, and data management, site characterization reports, and preparation of regulatory planning and permitting documents.  Due to the variety of work we support, we work with staff with a variety of technical backgrounds and levels of experience. 

Q. Running a small business can be challenging. Describe your growth philosophy and what you see for your future.

A. To use a baseball analogy, our business philosophy is more in line with a small ball approach, where we emphasize slow incremental growth similar to advancing one base at a time.  We do this so as to not sacrifice our commitments and reputation with our current clients to achieve a more rapid gain. Over the years we have succeeded in maintaining a balance between maintaining our current client commitments while pursuing opportunities to diversify and grow. Something that we are less known for is our technology development. Using assistance from a series of Department of Energy-sponsored Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants, Freestone developed a sensor to measure hexavalent chromium in groundwater. We hope in the next five years to have the opportunity to deploy multiple sensors to provide continuous real-time monitoring of the diminishing hexavalent chromium groundwater plumes near the Columbia River. Last but certainly not least, in light of our recent acquisition by Deep Isolation, we are excited to collaborate to support nuclear waste disposal demonstration projects and look for new government and commercial contract opportunities. 

At COP26 earlier this month, the glaring absence of nuclear energy as a central discussion topic highlights the uphill challenge this clean energy source has in being recognized as a key player in fighting global warming.

Right before COP26 started, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated, “Nuclear energy provides more than a quarter of the world’s clean power. Over the last half-century, it has avoided the release of more than 70 gigatons of greenhouse gases. Without nuclear power, many of the world’s biggest economies would lack their main source of clean electricity.”

Media headlines lately have touched on California, Germany, and the U.K. struggling with skyrocketing natural gas prices and projected increases in power demand while simultaneously shuttering or considering closing their nuclear power plants.

Additionally, it’s not just first-world countries that are grappling with transitioning to a carbon-neutral energy base; as energy demand increases worldwide, all clean energy sources should be utilized to combat the climate crisis.

In another COP26-related article, Matt Bowen of Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy said, “(Climate change)  will be much more daunting if we exclude new nuclear plants — or even more daunting if we decide to shut down nuclear plants altogether… Nuclear waste needs to be dealt with, (but) with fossil fuels, the waste is pumped into our atmosphere, which is threatening us from the risks of climate change and public health impacts from air pollution.”

So, if nuclear energy is seen as a way to fight climate change, why does it have such a bad rap? The reasons are many: fear of nuclear accidents, the potentially high costs and long construction timelines, and perhaps most relevantly, the fact that no country has yet to permanently dispose of its spent nuclear fuel.

Nuclear waste disposal isn’t as easy (or fun) to talk about as the deployment of renewable energy sources, but it is just as important. Because the ultimate disposal of nuclear waste proves to be a barrier to the deployment of new nuclear power plants, solving the nuclear waste disposal problem will help governments address public concerns about building new plants.

Although nuclear energy has its challenges and is often hampered by issues of public perception and deployment, it is still an incredibly necessary low-carbon energy source that can help reduce emissions that lead to global warming. While nuclear may not have been officially discussed enough by top decision-makers at COP26, we believe that solving the problem of nuclear waste will get the world one step closer to its climate goals.

Deep Isolation is pleased to welcome its newest team member: Ethan Bates, Director of Systems Engineering.

Dr. Bates, a nuclear engineer who received his doctorate from MIT in 2015, is an expert in reactor safety and nuclear systems integration and has worked for more than five years with leading advanced nuclear companies. In 2014 he co-authored a short paper for the Energy Policy journal published by Elsevier titled “Can Deep Boreholes Solve America’s Nuclear Waste Problem?” The highly cited paper looked at how disposal in deep boreholes could ease siting issues, provide modularity, and lower costs.

At Deep Isolation Dr. Bates is responsible for systems engineering-based product development for the operations of the company’s deep borehole repository concept.

In this Q&A get to know Dr. Bates and learn about his passion for deep boreholes.

Q. What inspired you to choose nuclear engineering as your career path?

After growing up in Singapore and participating in Model United Nations in high school, I became familiar with international issues needing massive institutional and technological advancements. The one that concerned me the most and which I felt could benefit the most from my quantitative skills was climate change.  I applied to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was admitted along with my twin brother Richard, who shares my passion for preventing climate change. We saw a flyer for a new freshman class called “Energy, Environment, and Society” and were intrigued by its project-based format.  I chose a project analyzing ways to recover thermal energy from MIT’s 5 -megawatt research reactor and became increasingly fascinated by how elegant, clean, efficient, and compact nuclear reactors are.  Combined with the realization that nuclear power was one of — if not the only — mature clean energy technology that could be expanded rapidly to grid-scale, I dedicated my studies and career to advancing the technology.

Q. After earning your nuclear science and engineering degree from MIT, you earned your doctorate there in which you developed a computational thermal and geologic model to simulate and optimize the design for a deep borehole waste disposal/spent nuclear fuel repository. Tell us how you became interested in deep boreholes and share some highlights of your doctoral research.

I saw an intriguing handwritten and photocopied flyer in the nuclear engineering department asking for an undergraduate researcher to conduct experiments on new concepts of emplacing nuclear waste in a deep borehole repository.  I discovered the flyer was composed by Professor Michael Driscoll, who had been pioneering borehole research (among other areas) for decades and had developed a reputation for tackling highly complex problems with elegant solutions he derived with pencil and paper.  This seemed like a great way to get more hands-on experience in a laboratory and to contribute to solving the nuclear waste problem.  Inspired by my advisors (Prof. Michael Driscoll and Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno), I made the research the focus of my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, which received an award from the Department of Energy in 2011 and led to a scholarship from the American Nuclear Society in 2013.

My doctoral research led to a published paper on sealing materials for borehole repositories.  I also investigated new filler materials for the canister and canister-to-borehole wall gap.  I realized that to quantify the benefit of these advancements, I’d need to develop an integrated safety and cost model.  This allowed me to provide justified answers to even more fundamental and unexplored questions of deep borehole design, such as the limits of waste loading and borehole spacing.

One of my favorite experiences was collaborating with accomplished scientists from national laboratories and having the chance to visit the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  It gave me a true sense of geologic time scales and proved to me that siting, building, and operating a deep borehole repository is possible.

A key finding of my research validated my initial draw to nuclear as a compact and efficient energy source.  I estimated that for the same amount of electricity, geologic disposal of nuclear waste will require up to 10,000 times less land area compared to the alternative of building advanced natural gas plants with carbon capture and sequestration into similarly isolated geologic formations.

Q. You also published a short paper examining whether deep boreholes could provide a means to address the nuclear waste problem. What did this paper conclude?

The primary conclusion is that deep boreholes provide access to stable rocks that have

been isolated from flowing groundwater and surface processes for millions of years.  This increases the number of potential sites where geologic disposal is possible, easing one of the biggest challenges to the nuclear industry.  The concept relies more on the natural barriers and features whose behavior can be extrapolated into the future more confidently compared to man-made and engineered barriers.  Since boreholes are modular (i.e., capacity can be expanded as needed), they’ll create less programmatic risk and could be valuable to countries with smaller inventories.

Q. You worked at two advanced nuclear reactor companies before coming to Deep Isolation. Please tell us about these experiences and why you’ve chosen to focus on the back end of the fuel cycle.

I had the rare opportunity to work at both TerraPower and Oklo and attended MIT alongside the founders of Transatomic.  In this way, I’ve lived the dream that a young engineer might have after watching the movie, “A New Fire,” a compelling and inspiring documentary about these three advanced nuclear companies.

I was strongly drawn to TerraPower’s vision of bringing bright nuclear engineers together to design and deploy an advanced sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in the near term.  There I analyzed the safety of their reactors and focused on validating the accuracy of accident simulation codes.  The most rewarding part of my time there was traveling to the International Atomic Energy Agency (in the real, not “model” United Nations) to present the findings of the work I had started as an intern.  That led to an invitation to present our findings at a conference in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where I was the only American in attendance and toured their sodium-cooled fast reactors. 

The challenge of nuclear waste disposal is shared by many countries and should be solved soon if there is to be a significant (and much needed) expansion in nuclear power.  Advanced nuclear reactors will still produce significant amounts of waste, and the front-runner concepts are not positioned to rapidly deal with the existing and growing inventory of spent fuel.  Thus, although I had opportunities to continue in the advanced nuclear industry, I ultimately decided to refocus on disposal.  I believe I can benefit the industry the most (and thus help combat climate change) by designing, testing, and deploying a borehole repository.  I was also attracted by the rewarding sense of empowerment, mutual respect, and mission of the Deep Isolation team.

Q. Any Deep Isolation accomplishments you’d like to highlight so far? What would success look like to you moving forward?

I’ve been able to pick up where I left off with my MIT research and begin fulfilling my goal of bringing it to reality.  Over the past five years, Deep Isolation has made great advancements in borehole design and performance analysis. By applying systems engineering principles, I’ve structured these efforts within an overarching concept of operations.  Breaking the large complex problem into organized and manageable pieces enables us to prioritize them and build more a detailed and robust technology commercialization pathway.  I’m also leading our collaboration with external industry experts to improve the deep borehole community’s collective understanding of long-term safety analysis assumptions.

Moving forward, success requires continuing development of technical partnerships, customer relationships, and government funding sources across the globe. We’ve assembled excellent teams to lead each of these areas and our progress so far is encouraging.

In the near term, techno-economic models which reveal performance trade-offs and limits as a function of various host rocks, waste types, loadings, and other design assumptions will enable optimization of design configurations.  Using these methods, we can also generate site selection criteria specifying where and under what conditions deep borehole repositories can be safely built.  Combining this with customer-specific requirements, the design can be refined, and a complete set of technical requirements can be established.

In parallel, a well-planned and executed demonstration program would be a major success for the industry, building broader confidence, establishing trust, and signaling that the technology will be ready to commercialize and scale.

Q. Tell our readers something about yourself that they might not expect to know about a nuclear engineer.

Most people wouldn’t associate nuclear engineers with music or dancing, but I really enjoy playing guitar and dancing Argentine tango.  Musically, I’d say my style is blues-rock with an infusion of jazz.  I performed for many years as a student at MIT’s “Battle of the Bands,” have danced in tango festivals all over the U.S., and even taught a series of tango classes at a university.

When I was hired at Deep Isolation in early 2020, I was eager to apply my experience in news, social media and renewable energy marketing to a new-to-me topic: nuclear waste disposal.

However, of the skills listed on my resume, “podcast host” was not among them. So when two weeks into my job I found out that, “Oh yes, the company was very much in need of a host for a new series about nuclear waste,” I won’t lie: I gulped.

But when I discovered that it would be my role to represent people similar to myself — nuclear industry outsiders mostly unaware of this hidden-in-plain-sight worldwide problem — I knew it was something I was willing to try.

The goal was for Nuclear Waste: The Whole Story to embody one of the most important elements of a successful nuclear waste disposal program: the ability to listen, to recognize, and to understand different perspectives on nuclear waste and all of its dimensions; as a former reporter and editor, those objectives were in my comfort zone.

Afterall, what better way is there to collect as much wisdom as possible on a complicated topic? Now, a year later, we have released 12 episodes with plenty more to come. We’ve also incorporated additional hosts (Liz Muller and Sam Brinton) to provide valuable insights to these conversations.

I’m happy (and relieved!) to say the podcast has earned a five-star rating on Apple, with listeners saying they appreciate its “to the point and direct vibe” and the expertise of our interviewees, who include citizen activists, nuclear industry veterans, government leaders and scientists.

I’ve learned so much from each and every one of these guests and am grateful for their willingness to speak openly about the challenges they face in their respective efforts to tackle this controversial problem.

Don’t Miss Our New Podcast Highlights Reel

There are too many highlights to mention, but we’ve assembled some of them into a short montage that I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch or listen to.

The highlights reel includes Kara Colton, who points out that nuclear waste — often incorrectly portrayed as “green goo” ala “The Simpsons” — can be an object as seemingly innocuous as a glove or a broom.

Or there’s the episode with Judy Treichel and Steve Frishman, two “ordinary” citizens who’ve spent 30 years informing the public about the U.S. government’s plan to build a mined waste repository in Nevada. They discuss how their effort eventually led to Yucca Mt. being put on hold because, as they said the states residents believe, “Nevada is not a wasteland.”

New episodes are added monthly. Watch or listen at nuclearwastepodcast.com or subscribe via Apple, Spotify, Amazon or Google. The series is also a playlist on our YouTube channel.

Please note: Although Deep Isolation is the producer, any opinions expressed by either the interviewers or their subjects do not represent our official company position.

And as always, we’d love to hear from you! Who should interview next? What questions about nuclear waste would you like answered? Just send an email to podcast@deepisolation.com.