Deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste: US perspective
Geophysics
2017-07-19 v1
Abstract
Radioactive waste disposal in deep boreholes may be more "ready" than disposal in mined geologic repositories since mankind has greater experience operating small deep holes - boreholes, than big shallow holes - mines. There are several thousand precedents for constructing >2 km deep boreholes and several hundred precedents for disposing long-lived wastes in boreholes. Borehole disposal is likely to be faster, cheaper, and more flexible than mined disposal, while also offering greater long-term isolation. Isolation would rely on the great depth, water density gradients, and reducing conditions to prevent vertical movement of waste up the borehole.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1707.05736,
title = {Deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste: US perspective},
author = {Patrick V. Brady and Geoffrey A. Freeze and Kristopher L. Kuhlman and Ernest L. Hardin and David C. Sassani and Robert J. MacKinnon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.05736},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
24 pages, 8 figures