PHOENIX – The four teams bidding to drill the Department of Energy’s planned nuclear waste storage test borehole in May will have to demonstrate community engagement and understanding of their projects if they want to remain in consideration, a senior DOE official said here Wednesday.
The companies seeking the contract have used public meetings and other means of communication to demonstrate the economic and scientific benefits of the borehole project. This remains challenging amid deep public skepticism in the areas under consideration.
This is the second attempt at what is expected to be a five-year, $80 million contract to test the suitability of storing DOE-managed waste in 16,000-foot holes in crystalline rock formations. Battelle Memorial Institute won the initial contract in January 2016, only for the deal to be canceled later in the year in the face of strong local opposition in its planned test site in Pierce County, N.D., and then its replacement location in Spink County, S.D.
The concerns were the same in both locations: distrust of the federal government, and worries that a successful test involving nonradioactive material would open the door for state land to one day be used for storage of actual radioactive substances.
Locals’ responses made clear “you can’t go in there with nonradioactive waste and a nonradioactive science project and think that this is a great project, anybody would want to have it. It’s not as simple as that,” Andrew Griffith, deputy assistant energy secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, said during a panel discussion here at the annual Waste Management Symposium.
The Department of Energy put the project to bid again in August, with Battelle and a number of other companies throwing their hats in the ring. This time, DOE instituted a phased approach to the project, starting with requiring contractors to secure a site and engage the public. Multiple contracts were expected in the early phases, ultimately leading to one final deal for drilling, the department has said.
In December, then-DOE Undersecretary for Science and Energy Franklin Orr announced that four bidders would participate in the first phase: ENERCON Federal Services and DOSECC Exploration Services, for a site in Quay County, N.M.; RESPEC, for a site in Haakon County, S.D.; AECOM, for a site in Pecos County, Texas; and TerranearPMC, for a site in Otero County, N.M. But Orr made clear that the teams must establish an agreement with the local community to advance in site selection.
The first phase is due to wrap up in May, at which time the bidders must show that communities understand the project and that their fears have been addressed, Griffith said. This stage has proven complicated for more than one of the bidding teams. For example: The Quay County Commission last month rescinded an earlier resolution of support for ENERCON’s plan after residents came out in force against it at a meeting. But ENERCON has scheduled additional public meetings this month in Quay County and nearby jurisdictions to discuss economic and other benefits of the project, company spokesman Chip Cameron said Friday.
“The previous rescission was not an indication that they do not support the project. They just want more information,” he said.
Part of the DOE program involves providing resources to participating communities. That includes funding to enable local communities to have staff on-site at the test locations, and support for STEM programs at area high schools and colleges, Griffith said. Regional universities are also involved in three of the four bids, he added.
Cameron said ENERCON is developing figures to demonstrate the economic benefits to the region from the project, such as buying materials from local businesses.
Griffith also pushed back against the idea that the only value in drilling a borehole in a particular area is because the site would inevitably be used for radioactive waste storage.
“Our level of knowledge of what’s really going down 5,000 meters below the surface of the Earth is really limited,” he said. “So here’s a window into an environment that presents just countless opportunities to learn, regardless of its potential application in the future for waste. There’s a lot of really fundamental science to gain.”
Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars spent now could save billions of dollars later if DOE determines that boreholes generally are an option for disposing of radioactive waste, avoiding the possible need to build a treatment plant at a department waste site or construct an engineered storage structure, Griffith said.
He emphasized that existing state and federal laws would prevent a borehole from being placed in a local community against its will.
The second phase of the bidding process involves securing county and state regulatory permits and approvals. Remaining teams would then complete a detailed drilling and test plan. DOE hopes to issue a drilling contract by the end of the year.
While the department has previously said only one site would be selected for borehole drilling, Griffith and Cameron this week both suggesgted DOE could select more than one of the teams. The department hopes to award the final contract by the end of 2017.
