Gibb, F. orcid.org/0000-0002-6507-732X, Beswick, J. and Travis, K.
(2024)
Borehole disposal of spent fuel and other high-level wastes: the case for deep, vertical, fully cased holes in saturated “hard” rock.
Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering, 3.
p. 1470443.
ISSN 2813-3412
Abstract
Driven by major advances in deep drilling technology and the geological understanding of the deep continental crust over the past 70 years, disposal in deep boreholes has moved from being technically unachievable to the point that it now offers a viable solution for the most hazardous nuclear wastes that could effectively be implemented “tomorrow”—i.e., within a few years. Moreover, disposal in deep boreholes is arguably superior in almost every respect to the mined and engineered repositories being pursued for high level waste by most countries. During the first 50 years of their evolution, almost all deep borehole disposal concepts shared five key aspects: (i) the hole was as deep as possible, (ii) it was vertical, (iii) it was fully cased, and (iv) it was in “hard” basement rock (v) saturated with aqueous fluid (groundwater). Technical advances in drilling over the last 20 years have encouraged proposed versions of the concept which depart from one or more of these aspects, but it is our contention that all five fundamental aspects should be retained. This paper summarises the more important arguments supporting this view. In order to meet the necessary post-closure (radiological) safety requirements, engineer out possible operational problems during construction and waste-package deployment, and capitalise on the main benefits of borehole disposal, the hole itself must be over 3 km deep, vertical, fully cased, and in suitably hard (ideally granitic) host rock saturated with aqueous fluid.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Gibb, Beswick and Travis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | nuclear waste; geological disposal; deep boreholes; geological barrier; safety case |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2024 15:26 |
Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2024 15:26 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnuen.2024.1470443 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media SA |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fnuen.2024.1470443 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219446 |