Former Waste Control Specialists President and CEO Rod Baltzer said Wednesday he has joined another radioactive waste management company as chief operating officer.
“I am the Chief Operating Officer of Deep Isolation … a startup company focused on the storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel deep underground,” Baltzer said in an update to his LinkedIn profile. “My responsibilities include interactions with communities, utilities and government entities as we prepare to license a disposal facility.”
Berkeley, Calif.-based Deep Isolation aims to use “directional drilling” for deep underground long-term storage and disposal of spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste types. The approach would involve drilling a narrow hole, 9 to 14 inches in diameter, one mile into stable rock, according to the company website. The hole would then ease into a horizontal space for disposal of the radioactive waste.
The company touts various benefits of its approach, including the capacity to drill near nuclear plants to reduce transport of radioactive waste. One hole could hold eight years’ worth of waste from a boiling-water reactor and 33 years of waste from a pressurized-water reactor, it says.
While he said he could not discuss specifics, Baltzer on Wednesday told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing the company is in discussions with utilities and communities about possible projects.
The company noted on its website that any disposal site would require licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which could take up to three years. The hole itself could be ready within one year from the start of drilling, Baltzer said.
Baltzer spent 12 years as president of Waste Control Specialists, which operates a radioactive and hazardous waste disposal facility in West Texas. He then served two-and-a-half years as president and CEO, leaving in January of this year when the company was sold from Valhi Inc. to private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Co. Under its new ownership, Waste Control Specialists is partnering with Orano on plans for an interim spent fuel storage site on its Andrews County property.
