IAEA Testing New Borehole Disposal Method

Janos Balla, a waste technology engineer at the IAEA, said the method was developed for countries that have “low levels of waste, modest infrastructure and limited human and financial resources.”

The IAEA tested the borehole method in Croatia late last year without radioactive material, claiming the results show that the “promising technology” would allow countries all over the world to “safely and securely take charge of their own disused radioactive sources.”

“It’s simple, affordable and can be deployed worldwide,” Ball said in a press release.

The U.N. agency said the method involves placing and covering sealed sources in a narrow hole a few hundred meters deep. The system employs a metal platform and a transfer cask, which allows the material to be placed in the borehole.