Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
1/15/2016
A Department of Energy official on Wednesday tried to quell skepticism that findings from deep borehole testing in North Dakota for the purpose of nuclear waste storage can be applied elsewhere.
Peter Swift, national technical director for the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition R&D Campaign and senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, appeared Wednesday during the Institute for Nuclear Materials Management’s three-day Spent Fuel Seminar in Washington, D.C. He discussed the agency’s plan to drill a 16,000-foot borehole in North Dakota to test the feasibility of storing high-level radioactive waste.
The estimated five-year, $35 million project, proposed across 20 acres of land near the city of Rugby, will deliver data on whether deep boreholes in crystalline rock formations are appropriate for DOE-managed waste. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has said deep borehole drilling could serve as an option for disposal of about 2,000 cesium and strontium capsules stored at the Hanford Site in Washington state. Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute is lead contractor on the borehole project.
Describing borehole disposal as a potentially feasible and cost-effective option, Swift carried an optimistic tone during his presentation. He said that had the U.S. designed nuclear reactors with deep borehole storage in mind, it would be possible to store the entire 60-year life cycle of spent fuel inventory from a single light-water reactor in 10 boreholes.
Swift was asked what borehole drilling in North Dakota could reveal about the process in general. During the Q&A portion of the discussion he met skepticism that the findings could be applied elsewhere. Swift responded that the DOE is gathering information about the entire U.S. with the project. The purpose of drilling in North Dakota, he said, is not to demonstrate that that particular site is a good one, but rather that the techniques are feasible. The department says numerous locations in the U.S. have similarly sized and geologically stable rock formations to those in Rugby. Swift said application of the technique at any future site would be conducted on a consent basis.
Bill Boyle, director for the DOE-NE Office of Used Nuclear Fuel R&D, said the city of Rugby, like any other locale, will have the option to pursue a consent-based site if the drilling technique is successful. He also made it a point to say that DOE is not placing any waste in the borehole, but simply testing. The drilling technique is considered similar to those used in oil and gas and geothermal well drilling, and would result in a diameter of 8 ½ inches at the bottom of the hole.
