Moniz: Hanford?s Cesium-Strontium Capsules Candidate For Borehole Disposal

As the Department of Energy hopes to launch a pilot program for deep borehole disposal next fiscal year, DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz said yesterday that Hanford’s cesium-strontium capsules could be a good candidate for borehole disposal. The 1,936 high activity capsules stored at Hanford’s Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility gave been named one of the site’s highest risks, in part due to vulnerability to earthquakes. A borehole demonstration project “could be very interesting for Hanford because about a third of the activity at site is cesium-strontium capsules, which are very small in diameter and could be very well suited perhaps for much earlier disposal through a borehole approach,” Moniz said yesterday at a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing. “I don’t know. We have to do the demonstration project, do the science, which is what we want to do in 2016. That’s another interesting direction which could be very material for Hanford.”

 

DOE proposed creating new Used Fuel Disposition subprogram that would explore alternative disposal options for DOE-managed high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel in its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request. As part of the new program, DOE has requested $18 million in FY16 for research and development work on deep borehole disposal. DOE plans to conduct a field test at a volunteer site that will include drilling a characterization borehole. The demonstration project would not use any actual waste material, but instead would likely use a heater to simulate high level waste.