companies entered Phase 1, consisting of “building a relationship with the community and working toward local public support” (DOE- NE 2017a, p. 6). This consent-based siting process was supposed to winnow down to one company and one site by early 2018. However, on May 23, 2017, it was announced that, “[d]ue to changes in budget priorities, the Department of Energy does not intend to continue supporting the Deep Borehole Field Test (DBFT) project and has initiated a process to effectively end the project immediately” (DOE 2017a). The unnamed “changes in budget priorities”were likely the result of the change in presidential administrations in 2017. This was not the end of the DBD concept. On March 20, 2018, Richard and Elizabeth Muller announced the formation of Deep Isolation, a startup company that sought to place nuclear waste in deep boreholes. Much like private companies Holtec andWaste Control Specialists seeking licenses to build SNF CISFs, Deep Isolation sees a financial gain in picking up where a terminated DOE project left off. There are two key differences between the Deep Isolation concept and the abandoned federal DBFT. First, using drilling technology developed by advancements in hydraulic fracking, Deep Isolation envisions a horizontal section at the bottom of its drill hole where the waste will be placed end-to-end. According to the company’s website, “This end-to-end placement results in a lower thermal heat load than a mined repository or vertical borehole and placing the canisters horizontally provides more support for the waste canisters” (Deep Isolation 2020). It is one thing to launch a startup around this concept; it is another to demonstrate the feasibility. On January 16, 2019, that is exactly what the company did. In Cameron, Texas, a five-foot-long canister mimicking the weight and shape of a typical cesium or strontium container was lowered about 2,000 ft into an existing drill hole and pushed into a long horizontal section using an underground tractor. After releasing the canister, the tractor and cable were withdrawn. Later, the tractor descended again to retrieve the canister and bring it back to the surface (Conca 2019). This is the second key difference between the Deep Isolation concept and the abandoned DBFT — Deep Isolation has used existing oil drill holes for its demonstration, while the DBFT sought to drill brand new holes. After demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed technology, Deep Isolation needed to make connections with established players in the nuclear waste industry. On June 24, 2019, Deep Isolation announced a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Bechtel National, Inc., and on November 11, 2019, they announced an MOA with NAC International, Inc. Both companies have years of experience in nuclear waste management and handling. Now the main thing standing in the way of Deep Isolation moving forward with their vision is the law. As mentioned above, the NWPA only allows for SNF and HLW to be disposed of in a deep-mined repository. If amended, DOE could possibly contract with Deep Isolation to use their combination vertical and horizontal drilling method. It also remains to be seen whether one or more willing host communities will welcome a DBD facility to their backyards.
County Commissioners rejecting the project in June, before an application could even be submitted (Albrecht 2016). Opposition to the DBFT, and DBD in general, was not limited to the localities near the proposed sites. As far back as 2015, states such as Oregon expressed their resistance for reasons that went beyond concerns about siting. In a letter to then Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy John Kotek, state officials acknowledged the project’s potential, but stated that they believed the DBD project would be neither fast nor inexpensive. The letter also predicted that such a project would distract from other obligations: It is hard for us to see tens of millions of dollars spent on a research project to identify a possible disposal path for Hanford’s cesium and strontium capsules (the waste formmost often linked with deep boreholes), when there is not currently money to move these cap- sules to dry storage, and eliminate one of the largest and most severe risks within DOE’s former nuclear weapons complex (Niles 2015). Nevertheless, DOE continued the DBFT project following the rejections in North and South Dakota. At the 2017 DOE-NE Transportation Core GroupWinter Meeting, attendees were informed that the department had issued a new request for proposals in October 2016. Awards were made in December 2016 to four companies: AECOM in Texas, ENERCON and TerranearPMC in New Mexico, and RE/SPEC in South Dakota. With these awards, the
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