A coalition of commercial concerns and research institutions is studying the potential for disposing of radioactive spent fuel from next-generation nuclear power reactors on-site rather than having to ship it to another, possibly distant, location.
The parties hope by September to issue their findings from the feasibility study of on-site horizontal deep borehole disposal, according to Andrew Sowder, a senior technical executive with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
“Basically, we’re developing a technical story to address key questions,” Sowder said Tuesday in a telephone interview with RadWaste Monitor. “What makes geologic emplacement a safe and ethical solution for management and isolation of nuclear waste. Really, the subject here is the potential for co-location of borehole technology with a future advanced reactor.”
The study will involve specialists from EPRI, a nonprofit U.S. research organization on energy issues; the Nuclear Energy Institute, the trade association for the nuclear industry; Auburn University of Alabama; utility Southern Co.; power industry engineering and environmental services consultancy Kessler and Associates; and Deep Isolation, which is already marketing a borehole approach for radioactive waste disposal.
The United States has tried for decades to develop a permanent means of disposal of used fuel from its existing nuclear power fleet, a growing stockpile of radioactive material that already exceeds 80,000 metric tons.
Congress in 1982 assigned the Department of Energy to deal with that spent fuel. The deadline to begin disposal was Jan. 31, 1998, but the federal agency still does not have any permanent or temporary place to put the waste.
The Trump administration tried in three successive budget requests to persuade Congress to appropriate funds to resume the long-frozen licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, but was rebuffed each time. It gave up for the upcoming 2021 federal budget year, instead asking for $27.5 million at DOE to kick-start development of centralized, interim storage of used fuel.
Nevada has long opposed being forced to accept other states’ nuclear waste, while environmental and anti-nuclear organizations have warned of potential dangers of shipping the material from power plants around the nation. Advocates, meanwhile, highlight the safety record of transport of used-fuel transport and the multiple layers of containment that would be involved in long-term storage or permanent disposal.
Next-generation reactor technologies offer the potential to reduce output of spent fuel or to reuse that material, but also to add to the domestic holding. “This is really geared toward answering the question does the technology option, or one like it, change the story on waste going forward with advance reactors,” Sowder said.
In North America alone there are 50 to 60 distinct projects to develop small-modular and other types of advanced reactor technologies that could be cheaper to build and have greater safety margins than existing systems, among other potential benefits, Sowder said. How many of them will come to fruition, of course, remains an open question.
Sowder said the idea for the study grew out of his discussions last summer with a colleague at Southern Co., the Atlanta-based utility that operates six nuclear power units under its Georgia Power and Alabama Power subsidiaries. Sowder then put together the research team, which started work this year.
Each participant comes with a particular area of expertise: Auburn University will study the geology needed for drilling a borehole, Kessler and Associates Principal John Kessler will evaluate the safety case for the technology, and the Nuclear Energy Institute will consider the regulatory aspects.
“NEI hopes the study will provide valuable insights on the potential role that deep drill-holes could play as a complementary technology, in addition to the national used fuel disposal program, in advancing future nuclear projects,” Rod McCullum, senior director for decommissioning and used fuel at the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said Tuesday by email.
Deep Isolation has been in semi-regular contact with Southern Co. for several years, CEO Elizabeth Muller said Wednesday. Richard Esposito, a research and development program manager at Southern, is on Deep Isolation’s advisory board. That relationship led to the company’s recruitment to the project, via a contract announced Monday with EPRI.
The company, headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., has patented the disposal design broadly being evaluated in the feasibility study – what it calls directional drilling. Using technologies already employed to access oil and gas deposits, the company would drill 18-inch holes thousands of feet underground. Fuel assemblies would then be stored in a horizontal space, able to be retrieved if necessary.
The company can offer insight on siting and public acceptance for deployment of this type of technology, along with its actual implementation at a selected location.
“There’s a lot of work that we’re doing that would really apply to many different technologies, many different possible solutions,” Muller told RadWaste Monitor. “I think it’s helpful to use a specific technology because it makes it concrete, and it provides us the grounding if you will to then take a detailed look at something.”
Sowder emphasized that the study is not intended to endorse Deep Isolation’s approach, but acknowledges it is an “interesting technology” that could be applied to future nuclear builds.
This is Deep Isolation’s first contract with a non-government client, according to a press release. To date, it has not disclosed any details about its contracting with governments.
A draft of the study is anticipated around July, with the final version following in September, Sowder said.
“The next steps are still to be determined; it will be interesting to see how entities interested in advanced nuclear and their stakeholders respond to the study,” according to McCullum.
