The Department of Energy announced Monday that it is moving forward with proposals from four companies for Phase 1 of the department’s deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test.
California-based AECOM is exploring a site in Pecos County, Texas; Pennsylvania-based TerranearPMC a site in Otero County, N.M.; Georgia-based Enercon is looking at Nara Visa, N.M.; and South Dakota-based Respec is aiming for Haakon County, S.D. Phase 1 of the five-phase project will involve public outreach and securing all necessary land use and lease agreements for the prospective sites.
This is the second solicitation for DOE’s borehole field test. The department in January 2016 awarded a $35 million, five-year field test contract to Battelle Memorial Institute, but the contractor failed to secure public support for two separate test sites, in North Dakota and South Dakota, over the course of several months. County commissions in both states blocked Battelle’s efforts as residents voiced concerns that a successful field test would lead to actual nuclear waste storage in their areas. Battelle also participated in the second round of bidding, again failing to secure public support, this time for a potential site in Dale County, Ala.
The field test will produce data on the feasibility of storing DOE-managed nuclear waste in 16,000-foot boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations. It is one storage method the Obama administration is exploring as an alternative to the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Associate Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Fuel Cycle Technologies Andrew Griffith stressed Monday that the test will not involve any actual nuclear waste. “It specifically prohibits the storage, disposal, or use of nuclear waste at the site of the deep borehole field test, and it further requires that after the project is completed, the borehole will be permanently sealed and the land restored in accordance with the state and local regulations,” he said during a teleconference with reporters.
Griffith declined to identify the exact locations of the proposed sites, deferring to the drilling teams, but RadWaste Monitor independently confirmed all four.
“We are deferring to the teams in identifying those local communities because the relationships that they’ve established existed before the proposal was submitted, and they are in the lead for engaging with those communities and further formalizing that relationship and hopefully that support, so we’re not identifying them at this time, but they will be identified I would say in very short, due time,” Griffith said.
The solicitation requires that the potential drilling teams secure all permitting and regulatory approvals prior to DOE awarding the ultimate drilling contract. The Phase 1 awards range between $500,000 and $1 million for each company, Griffith said. The department will narrow the list once more before deciding on one final team to carry out phase 4 and the drilling work.
Phase 1 is expected to last five months. Phase 2, also expected to take five months, will require that teams gain all county and state regulatory permits and approvals. Griffith said DOE will narrow the list (to an unspecified number) following the second phase based on the following criteria: degree of public acceptance; technical sufficiency of preliminary design work; completion of permitting and regulatory requirements; completion of preliminary drilling and test plan; and the cost evaluation of preliminary design work and availability of funds.
Phase 3, expected to take four months, will require the teams to complete a detailed drilling and test plan that covers the remaining work. DOE will then select one team for the final drilling contract, a decision expected about a year after phase 1 begins, using the following criteria: technical sufficiency of the completed drilling and test plan; and a cost evaluation of remaining work and availability of funds. Phase 5 requires site management and maintenance; closing of the borehole after the test; and site restoration. Based on DOE’s anticipated five-year schedule, the borehole project would wrap up in January 2022.
When asked about options if all four teams fail to secure a site, Griffith said he would not speculate, but, “We’re very confident that this approach is going to result in a site with a supporting community that will enable this project to go forward.”
