Deep Isolation Licenses Waste Technology to Amentum: Waste & Recycling

August 10, 2022

Deep Isolation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with technology and engineering service provider Amentum to collaborate on the commercialization of Deep Isolation’s radioactive waste treatment technology around the world.

Deep isolation concept for processing nuclear fuel and high-level waste (Image: Deep isolation)

Based in Berkeley, California, Deep Isolation’s solution for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste involves placing it in corrosion-resistant canisters placed in deep horizontal drill holes. . This technology uses existing directional drilling technology. Waste can be collected for a set period of time or set aside permanently. In 2019, Deep Isolation publicly demonstrated its concept when it successfully deployed and retrieved a prototype nuclear waste canister hundreds of meters underground from a borehole.

Deep Isolation offers licenses that enable key industry players to access protected intellectual property. The program features access to Deep Isolation patents and engineering work, as well as planning and operational processes that can be used independently of Deep Isolation technology.

The new agreement will give Amentum access to over 50 protected Deep Isolation inventions, as well as engineering specifications and know-how. This includes deep isolation details under the International Atomic Energy Agency guidance to tailor the deep borehole repository to specific regulatory requirements, waste inventories, stakeholder needs, and local geology for each client. compliant processes.

Deep Isolation co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Muller said: “By investing in this license, we are pleased that they are placing value on Deep Isolation’s solution.”

Initial targets for the joint effort, according to the companies, include countries in Europe and the Pacific “with combined geological disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste worth more than US$30 billion.”

Amentum is a major contractor for the United States federal government and some allied governments, supporting programs of critical national importance across defense, security and intelligence, energy and environmental cleanup.

Jim Blankenhorn, senior vice president of Amentum, said: “This partnership strengthens our overall position in growth markets to provide innovative solutions to nuclear disarmament around the world.”

“The world is changing rapidly, and solving the nuclear waste challenge is critical to the success of nuclear energy,” said Müller. “It takes a large team effort to deploy the solution.”

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

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