New Nuclear Waste Disposal Technique Revealed by Fracking

Nuclear waste disposal has been a thorn in the side of the NRC for decades, but a new technique that takes advantage of drilling advancements in the fracking industry should allow the waste to be stored at a much lower cost than previous techniques.

The New Approach to Nuclear Waste Disposal

The new approach involves placing the nuclear waste in an array of tunnel-shaped horizontal bore holes, each of which is up to 2 miles long, about 1 mile beneath the Earth’s surface.  This is so deep that geologists claim it would take many millions of years, if ever, for it to ever reach the surface.

The waste is placed in 1-foot-diamter containers, which are then inserted into the tunnel.  Each tunnel, which is surrounded by dense shale rock, is then packed with layers of crushed asphalt or concrete.  Shale is so dense that the only way to extract anything out of it is – you guessed it – fracking.

Over the past decade or so, fracking drilling technology has become cheaper and cheaper, to the point where it is now seen as a viable option for nuclear waste disposal.  Previously, only vertical drilling was a viable option, but now horizontal drilling is actually cheaper and easier.

It only takes about two weeks to drill each tunnel, and since it is all done by machine, it is much safer.  Additionally, there is so much shale in the U.S. that the waste can be stored anywhere, which is important because it minimizes the distance radioactive waste must travel to get to the storage location.

Only an estimated 300 tunnels would be needed to store all the existing nuclear waste in the U.S.  Seems like a no-brainer to me, but many regulatory and citizen hurdles need to be overcome before the technology is approved for nuclear waste disposal.