The Department of Energy announced Monday that it is moving forward with proposals from four companies for Phase 1 of the department’s deep borehole nuclear waste storage field test.
California-based AECOM is exploring a site in Texas; Pennsylvania-based TerranearPMC a site in Otero County, N.M.; Georgia-based Enercon is looking at Nara Visa, N.M.; and South Dakota-based Respec is aiming for Haakon County, S.D. Phase 1 of the five-phase project will involve securing all necessary land use and lease agreements for the prospective sites.
This is the second solicitation for DOE’s borehole field test. The department in January 2015 awarded the $35 million, five-year field test contract to Battelle Memorial Institute, but the contractor failed to secure public support for two separate test sites, in North Dakota and South Dakota, over the course of several months. Battelle also participated in the second round of bidding, again failing to secure public support, this time for a potential site in Dale County, Ala.
The field test will produce data on the feasibility of storing DOE-managed nuclear waste in 16,000-foot boreholes drilled into crystalline rock formations. It is one storage method the Obama administration is exploring as an alternative to the canceled geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Associate Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Fuel Cycle Technologies Andrew Griffith stressed Monday that the test will not involve any actual nuclear waste. “It specifically prohibits the storage, disposal, or use of nuclear waste at the site of the deep borehole field test, and it further requires that after the project is completed, the borehole will be permanently sealed and the land restored in accordance with the state and local regulations,” he said during a teleconference with reporters.
Griffith declined to name the exact locations of the proposed sites, deferring to the drilling teams. Weapons Complex Morning Briefing independently confirmed three, but AECOM did not respond to a request for comment.
The solicitation requires that the potential drilling teams secure all permitting and regulatory approvals prior to DOE awarding the ultimate drilling contract. The Phase 1 awards range between $500,000 and $1 million for each company, Griffith said. The department will narrow the list once more before deciding on one final team to carry out phase 4 and the drilling work.
