When ENERCON Federal Services last year became one of four teams bidding to dig a 16,000-foot deep borehole as a test for a potential means of radioactive waste disposal, Outreach Manager Francis “Chip” Cameron thought of it as a mere research effort.
“We made the mistake of walking into this, thinking it was going to be a straightforward science project,” Cameron said on Sept. 7 at the ExchangeMonitor’s RadWaste Summit in Summerlin, Nev., several months after the Department of Energy finally killed the controversial plan.
ENERCON, which had teamed with DOSECC Exploration Services to bid on the Energy Department contract, was not prepared for the level of vehement opposition it encountered for its proposed site in Quay County, N.M. – even though public opposition had already derailed a prior effort under Battelle to find a borehole site in North and South Dakota. “We ran into a buzz saw right from the start of it,” Cameron said.
Foes of the deep borehole test project were quick to spread misleading or false information in order to sway public opinion, Cameron said. The ENERCON team spent much of its time trying to refute rumors that the test was really a pretext to import radioactive waste into Quay County, a largely rural area in eastern New Mexico. This was crucial, as local approval of the project was central to DOE’s selection process among the bidders.
“Our site was on private land” that was used for cattle, Cameron said. The Energy Department repeatedly affirmed the test would not involve actual radioactive material, and that the hole would never be used for such storage, but could not overcome distrust of its intentions. Cameron noted that a clause in ENERCON’s lease agreement said no radioactive waste would ever be emplaced at the site, he added.
Although Cameron had been pleased with early public outreach on the research project, vocal foes quickly seized the initiative, he said. The ENERCON team agreed to appear at one gathering of local concerned citizens. But the company’s boreholes officials were not allowed to finish their presentations, nor answer the questions that were “shouted at us,” Cameron said.
Distrust of Feds Made Locals Wary, County Official Says
Quay County Commissioner Franklin McCasland said local concerns were probably more centered on DOE than ENERCON. Cameron and his team were “very open and very honest with us,” McCasland told RadWaste Monitor on Tuesday.
However, there was definitely a “lack of trust” with the federal government and DOE, he added.
Many local residents simply didn’t believe the department could be counted upon to live up to its end of the bargain, McCasland said. Administrations and DOE leadership changes, meaning the departmental management that executed the agreement might not be around later to see it through, the county commissioner noted.
In addition, there was some concern that merely drilling a test hole could hurt the Ogallala Aquifer, McCasland said.
As an example of the public opposition level, a “Say No to the Borehole” social media page quickly garnered more than 1,000 followers – and there are only 10,000 people in the county, McCasland said.
The Quay County official said he had reached out to officials in a couple other communities involved in the DOE borehole picture, and that they reported opposition to the project as well.
“It illustrates how complex and controversial our work is” when interacting with the public on anything concerning radioactive waste, Cameron said.
The Energy Department did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
The borehole project was several years in the making: In 2012, the Obama administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future cited deep boreholes as an option that needed further study. DOE was interested in evaluating whether engineered boreholes extending more than 3 miles into the earth could provide a safe, doable way to dispose of certain types of radioactive waste.
A primary intent of the field test was to gather data that would indicate whether the particular type of geology was suitable for nuclear waste storage, including rock type, water chemistry, and rock and water depth, according to DOE.
The department in January 2016 selected Battelle Memorial Institute to drill a test hole deep into crystalline rock in Pierce County, N.D. But the contract was canceled that summer when DOE and Battelle were unable to overcome vocal opposition there and at a fallback location in Spink County, S.D.
A second contract selection process began in August 2016, and DOE in December announced that four teams had been selected for further consideration that would ultimately lead to the awarding of at least one contract to dig the borehole. Along with the ENERCON-DOSECC partnership, three other contractor teams were pursuing boreholes in three other locations: TerranearPMC in Otero County, N.M.; RESPEC in Haakon County, S.D.; and AECOM in Pecos County, Texas.
The Trump administration DOE formally defunded the project in May, citing “changes in budget priorities.” Cameron said he ordered a glass of champagne when he heard the news: “It was a tough project.”
