US firm validates safe disposal of radioactive waste with borehole tech

A Washington-based company, Deep Isolation, has successfully validated its deep borehole technology for the safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste generated from advanced nuclear reactor fuel recycling. Their physics-based modeling demonstrated that disposing of high-level waste in deep boreholes drilled into generic shale and granitic host rocks achieves long-term safety levels far exceeding stringent radiological exposure standards. This validation was conducted in collaboration with Oklo Inc and the Argonne and Idaho national laboratories, confirming that nuclear waste streams processed via the Argonne-baseline electrorefining method are compatible with this disposal approach. The findings suggest that borehole disposal could become a viable option for permanently isolating high-level radioactive waste, contingent on changes in U.S. law to authorize such repositories. Deep Isolation, which holds 99 patents related to this technology, claims to be the first company developing nuclear waste disposal solutions based on deep boreholes. Their Universal Canister System, developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, lever