Deep boreholes could cut disposal costs for nuclear fuel recycling waste

A three-year DOE-funded project by Deep Isolation found that all studied scenarios for disposing of recycled nuclear fuel waste in deep boreholes cost less than the target of 0.1 cent per kilowatt-hour. Projected radiation doses were orders of magnitude below the 10 millirem-per-year benchmark.

• All disposal scenarios cost below the 0.1 cent per kWh target
• Projected doses were orders of magnitude under 10 millirem/year
• Project run by Deep Isolation with Argonne, Oklo and Case Western
• Vertical and horizontal boreholes with Universal Canister System studied