NAC International will provide the canisters that would hold radioactive waste in storage or disposal through Deep Isolation’s planned “horizontal borehole” approach, the two companies announced Wednesday.
In a press release, Berkeley, Calif.-based Deep Isolation said it had sealed an extended cooperation deal with NAC, a spent nuclear fuel management specialist headquartered in Peachtree Corners, Ga. The companies announced a short-term memorandum of agreement last November.
The terms of the deal, including its length and value, are confidential, a Deep Isolation spokesperson said.
“Leveraging NAC and Deep Isolation canister technology and intellectual property, NAC will engineer, license and deliver the canisters and other equipment associated with the handling and transferring of high-level waste, spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste from existing storage areas to a Deep Isolation repository,” according to the press statement.
Founded in 2016, Deep Isolation offers a patented system for directional drilling for temporary storage or permanent disposal of radioactive waste. The company said it has raised $14 million to date and has “half a dozen” letters of intent in hand for prospective contracts. Details of those letters of intent are also not being released, the spokesperson said.
In April, Deep Isolation said it had secured its first contract with a non-government client: to support an industry study of the feasibility of borehole disposal of spent fuel on the properties of advanced nuclear power reactors that generate the material. Deep Isolation has not publicly discussed contracts with government customers.
