Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/31/2014
The Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office is looking for a host community to conduct a Field Test to demonstrate of the feasibility of the Deep Borehole (DBH) disposal concept, according to a Request for Information issued late last week. Deep borehole disposal for smaller packages of DOE-managed waste has been recommended multiple times for further research and development, with the most recent endorsement coming in DOE’s latest co-mingling report, and DOE had requested funding to further its development of the concept in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. Through the RFI, DOE hopes to locate interested communities willing to host its latest field test, which would not use radioactive material. “The Department of Energy is requesting information to measure the interest of communities in hosting a DBH Field Test,” DOE spokesman Tim Jackson said in an email. “Responses to this RFI should include at a minimum the responder’s extent of interest in providing a host site for the DBH Field Test; identification, ownership and description of any proposed host site; and discussion of how any proposed host site meets the above preferred location guidelines and state and local government approval requirements. ” Responses for interested communities are due by Dec. 8.
The RFI lists the requirements needed from any host community to participate in the field test, including: Less than 2 km (1.2 miles) depth to crystalline basement; Not at or proximate to a strategic petroleum reserve site; Not near an urban area; Lack of known existing surface or subsurface anthropogenic radioactive contamination; Less than 2 percent probability within 50 years of peak ground acceleration greater than 0.16 g from a seismic event (generally indicative of area of tectonic stability); and Site area greater than 1 square km (about half square mile so that there is ample area for drilling operations).
DOE wants to conduct this field test as a way to further the understanding of the disposal technique. “A DBH Field Test is the next logical step in evaluating the feasibility of the DBH disposal concept,” the RFI said. “The DBH Field Test would be a scientific and engineering experiment, conducted at full-scale, in-situ. The field test would be well-instrumented and monitored with respect to materials, geology, hydrology, chemistry, and other sciences and engineering disciplines to provide enough measurements and data to provide a fundamental understanding of the disposal concept.”
