Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/26/2015
The Department of Energy plans to issue a Request for Proposal next month for its Deep Borehole Field Test procurement, according to a pre-solicitation notice issued yesterday. DOE is hoping to expand its research and development efforts for deep boreholes after the disposal method has been recommended multiple times for some smaller packages of DOE-managed defense waste. The draft RFP calls for a contractor to identify a suitable location for the test as well as drilling “two deep boreholes (a smaller-diameter Characterization Borehole and a larger-diameter, full-scale Field Test Borehole) into crystalline basement rock in a geologically stable continental location,” the draft RFP Scope of Work said. DOE plans to issue the RFP on or about July 8, the notice said, and a response date will be included with the RFP.
DOE has proposed creating a new Used Fuel Disposition subprogram that would explore alternative disposal options for DOE-managed high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel in its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request. As part of the new program, DOE has requested $18 million in FY’16 for research and development work on deep borehole disposal. This demonstration project would not use any actual waste material, but instead would likely use a heater to simulate high level waste. The boreholes proposed would be about 5 kilometers deep with a diameter of about 17 inches at the bottom. Officials have said in the past that Hanford’s cesium-strontium capsules could be a match for disposal in boreholes. After putting casing in the hole and a waste package around the waste form, that would allow for a 12-inch waste form—too small for spent nuclear fuel or existing vitrified waste canisters but the right size for small packages such as the cesium-strontium capsules.
