Deep borehole disposal
Deep borehole disposal (DBD) is the concept of disposing high-level
The waste would be put into the lower mile of such a hole, within
A pair of proposed test boreholes in the United States were cancelled due to public opposition and lack of funding in 2016 and 2017.
American deep borehole disposal tests
Beginning in 2016, the
Illustration
In the diagram, the solution domain is used for the purpose of computer modelling of heat flow around the borehole.[6]
Details
Deep borehole disposal involves drilling a hole about 5 km (3 mi) down into the Earth's crust.
The deep borehole concept can be applied to any amount of waste. For countries that do not rely on nuclear power plants, their entire inventory of high-level nuclear waste could perhaps be disposed of in a single borehole.[citation needed] Current estimates suggest that spent fuel generated from a single large nuclear power plant operating for multiple decades could be disposed of in fewer than ten boreholes.[citation needed] It is estimated that only 800 boreholes would be sufficient to store the entire existing nuclear waste stockpile of the US.[1] Borehole disposal programs could be terminated at any time with little loss of investment because each borehole is independent. The modular nature of borehole disposal would lend itself to regional, or on-site, disposal of nuclear waste. Another attraction of the deep borehole option is that holes might be drilled and waste emplaced using modifications of existing oil and gas drilling technologies.
Finally, the environmental impact is small. The waste handling facility at the wellhead, plus a temporary security buffer zone, would require about one square kilometer. When the borehole is filled and sealed, the land can be returned to a pristine condition.[citation needed]
Location of appropriate sites
Every state in the U.S. has deep rocks suitable for its own borehole repository.[2] The required crystalline basement rocks are located far below low-density sedimentary rock, drinking water aquifers, and oil and gas deposits.[2] A single borehole would not be big enough to hold all of the nuclear waste produced by a country like the United States, and therefore, a number of them might eventually exist within a single country.[2]
Speed of construction
Scientists at the University of Sheffield in England say that deep boreholes for nuclear waste disposal can be built much more quickly than a traditional deep geological repository that is excavated like an underground mine for waste disposal.[8] The mined repository approach has been pursued unsuccessfully for many years, but the University of Sheffield engineers say that a borehole could be drilled, filled, and sealed in no more than five years, in contrast to the decades required for a mined repository.[8]
See also
- Horizontal drillhole disposal
- Ocean disposal of radioactive waste
- Ocean floor disposal
- Nuclear fuel cycle
- Radioactive waste
- Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository
- Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
References
- ^ PMID 24598616.
- ^ a b c d e Conca, James. "DOE Tries To Change The Rules On Nuclear Waste Disposal", Forbes (January 21, 2016).
- ^ Nowatzki, Mike. "Officials raise 'deep concern' that proposed drilling project near Rugby could lead to nuclear waste disposal in N.D.", INFORUM (January 28, 2016).
- ^ Voosen, Paul (2016-09-27). "Protests spur rethink on deep borehole test for nuclear waste". Science (AAAS). Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ Orr, Franklin (Lynn) (23 May 2017). "Studying the Feasibility of Deep Boreholes". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^
Viney, Clare (1 June 2007). "Managing our nuclear waste" (6). Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
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(help) - ^ Gibb, Fergus (2007). "The Deep Borehole Disposal Option for Spent Nuclear Fuel". University of Sheffield. Archived from the original Archived 2007-07-23 at the Wayback Machine 7 February 2012.
- ^ a b "US to drill 5-km-deep borehole in test for radioactive waste storage", GCR: Global Construction Review (February 9, 2016).
External links
- Journal of the Geological Society, Jan 2000 by Gibb, Fergus G F
- 2004 Nirex Report : A Review of the Deep Borehole Disposal Concept for Radioactive Waste
- Hoag/MIT Thesis - Canister Design for Deep Borehole Disposal of Nuclear waste
- Sandia National Labs' Performance Assessment of Deep Boreholes
- Sizer/MIT Thesis - Minor Actinide Waste Disposal in Deep Geological Boreholes
- 2010 NEI Deep Borehole Article
- 2010 Physics Today Deep Borehole Article
- March 2010 Driscoll Presentation at Sandia-MIT Borehole Workshop