Some Logistical Considerations in Designing a System of Deep Boreholes for Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1090212· OSTI ID:1090212

Gray, Genetha Anne ^[1]; Brady, Patrick Vane ^[2]; Arnold, Bill Walter ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Deep boreholes could be a relatively inexpensive, safe, and rapidly deployable strategy for disposing Americaś nuclear waste. To study this approach, Sandia invested in a three year LDRD project entitled “Radionuclide Transport from Deep Boreholes.” In the first two years, the borehole reference design and backfill analysis were completed and the supporting modeling of borehole temperature and fluid transport profiles were done. In the third year, some of the logistics of implementing a deep borehole waste disposal system were considered. This report describes what was learned in the third year of the study and draws some conclusions about the potential bottlenecks of system implementation.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1090212
• Report Number(s): SAND--2012-8057; 456464
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English