Deep Isolation will attend the USNIC Back-end Task Force Meeting on Feb 8, 2024.
Event, Feb 8, 2024
Author: d33pis0-admin
MenKus & Associates, January 11, 2024
Safer Now, Safer for Future Generations
In this episode, Liz shares her vision of wanting to solve nuclear waste to help unlock the potential of nuclear power to address global warming. This is an informative and inspiring discussion about what it takes to bring a breakthrough idea into the world.
Press Release, December 7, 2023
Curio and Deep Isolation Sign MOU to Advance Nuclear Waste Disposal Technologies
Washington, D.C, December 7, 2023 – Curio, a trailblazer in nuclear technology solutions, and Deep Isolation, an innovator in nuclear waste disposal, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collectively drive forward the development of advanced technologies for efficient and secure disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW).
Under this MOU, both Curio and Deep Isolation will mutually collaborate and exchange critical information for the use of Deep Isolation’s Universal Canister System (UCS) and patented directional drilling solution for deep borehole disposal for the isolation and management of HLW from UNF recycling.
Deep Isolation is the owner and developer of a suite of technologies for deep borehole storage and disposal of used nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste. As part of an R&D program funded by ARPA-E, Deep Isolation has developed a UCS for borehole disposal that can accommodate a variety of fuel types and waste forms.
Curio is the owner and developer of the NuCycle® technology, which intends to produce, on a global scale, recycled nuclear fuel and a wide range of isotopes with existing and prospective market demands in a manner that dramatically reduces the amount of HLW by as much as 96% or more while ensuring robust safeguards and security by design.
This collaborative initiative is geared towards exploring synergies between Curio and Deep Isolation with respect to their respective UNF recycling and disposal technologies and establishing a framework for cooperation in development of methods related to loading, storage, handling, and transportation of HLW-bearing canisters after the NuCycle process.
Ed McGinnis, CEO of Curio, remarked, “This collaboration signifies a pivotal moment in nuclear technology history where both advanced recycling and advanced geologic sequestration technology are progressing toward commercialization. By joining forces with Deep Isolation, we’re not just addressing a critical need for effective nuclear waste management; we’re spearheading an era of innovation and responsibility in the nuclear industry.”
Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation, remarked, “We’re excited to work with the Curio team to address waste disposal requirements from nuclear fuel recycling. This MOU lays the groundwork to better understand and address those needs.”
This strategic partnership combines Curio’s expertise in advanced nuclear recycling technology with Deep Isolation’s pioneering solutions for nuclear waste disposal. By leveraging their respective strengths and knowledge, both entities aim to revolutionize the landscape of nuclear waste management, emphasizing collaboration, innovation, and environmental responsibility.
The joint efforts outlined in this MOU are poised to set new standards for efficient, secure, and environmentally conscious disposal solutions for high-level nuclear waste.
For media inquiries or further information, please contact:
Lguzi@curiolegacy.com
Leeaht Guzi
Director of External Affairs
1425 K St. NW, Suite 210
Washington, D.C., 20009
Curio.energy
Or
media@deepisolation.com
Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704
www.deepisolation.com
About Curio Legacy Ventures:
Curio Legacy Ventures is at the forefront of nuclear technology innovation, pioneering solutions for sustainable nuclear power generation and waste management. With a commitment to driving advancements in nuclear recycling and waste disposal, Curio remains dedicated to fostering partnerships and innovations that redefine the future of nuclear technology.
About Deep Isolation:
Deep Isolation is a leading global innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions. Driven by a passion for environmental stewardship and scientific ingenuity, the company’s patented solution of advanced nuclear technologies enables global delivery through its partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.
This press release contains forward-looking statements and is subject to the terms outlined in the disclaimer at the end.
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LONDON – Deep Isolation, a leading innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions, will present its paper on deep borehole demonstration at the IAEA’s International Conference on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning, Environmental Protection and Remediation: Ensuring Safety and Enabling Sustainability, to be held in Vienna, Austria from 6 to 10 November 2023.
The paper, titled “Progress towards the demonstration of deep borehole disposal”, was co-authored by the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center’s Executive Director, Ted Garrish (former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy), Deep Isolation’s Director of Systems Engineering, Dr. Ethan Bates, and Chris Parker, Global Head of Business Development and Managing Director for Deep Isolation EMEA. It provides an update on progress towards an end-to-end demonstration of deep borehole disposal for radioactive waste, following the research study presented at the IAEA International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management in November 2021.
“I’m pleased that the IAEA is showcasing our progress towards a deep borehole demonstration,” says co-author Chris Parker. “The nuclear industry knows that in order to grow it needs safe, scalable and cost-effective solutions to dispose of the spent fuel and high-level waste it creates ꟷ and a full-scale demonstration of deep borehole disposal is the logical next step towards this.”
In 2021/22, Deep Isolation and the University of Sheffield conducted a study, revealing that four out of five policymakers, regulators and waste management professionals around the world want greater international collaboration on deep borehole disposal, with their number one priority being a full-scale demonstration of the technology. To address this, an independent, non-profit organization, the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center, was founded at the end of 2022 by a coalition of government and industry partners. The paper outlines the nonprofit’s multi-year program, its work completed to date to advance the safety case and technical readiness for deep borehole disposal and priorities for the year ahead.
“This year has been incredibly productive for the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center. We’ve seen remarkable progress, from growing our membership base to conducting crucial tests and launching our ambitious demonstration program. Our commitment to advancing safe deep borehole disposal is receiving strong global support, and we’re excited about the journey ahead,” says co-author Ted Garrish.
The paper also highlights the progress and plans of government, regulatory, and private-sector supporters of the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center. Since the public launch at Waste Management Symposia in February 2023, the Center has been engaged in dialogue with a large number of interested parties and already has:
- Secured memberships from public and private sector organizations representing waste disposal interests in nine countries.
- Secured community consent to a multi-year non-radioactive demonstration program at the Center’s facility in Cameron, Texas
- Performed an initial field test at Cameron, demonstrating the interoperability of Deep Isolation’s disposal canister (designed for the deep geological disposal of pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies in boreholes) with standard lifting and emplacement technologies used by the oil and gas sector.
- Secured funding – via the UK Government’s Energy Entrepreneur’s Fund and the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program – to undertake more extensive surface and sub-surface canister testing over the next two years.
- Established partnerships aimed at extending the Center’s test program from Cameron’s shale geology, to encompass different geologies and jurisdictions.
The Deep Borehole Demonstration Center also announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with TNO, an independent research organization in the Netherlands with a mission to generate innovative solutions to achieve a safe, healthy, sustainable, and digital society and boost the earning power of the Netherlands. “We are looking forward to this collaboration with the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center, in order to explore ultra deep boreholes as one of the geological storage options for nuclear waste”, says TNO’s Director Tirza van Daalen. “By bringing together our organizations’ capabilities, we aim to explore joint research activities, field tests, and further progress demonstration projects”.
This collaboration with TNO means that the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center is now pursuing demonstration at three sites: with TNO for ultra deep wellbore disposal at its Rijswijk Centre for Sustainable Geo-energy (an open innovation lab with facilities available for full-scale testing and demonstration of new drilling techniques); in crystalline rock through the Center’s MOU with Norsk Kjernekraft and in shale geology at its own test center at Cameron, Texas.
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About Deep Isolation
Deep Isolation is a leading global innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions. Driven by a passion for environmental stewardship and scientific ingenuity, the company’s patented solution of advanced nuclear technologies enables global delivery through its partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.
About the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center
The nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center was established to provide interested entities and governments worldwide with an independent organization through which to commission projects that characterize and advance the technical readiness of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal technologies.
Press Contact
media@deepisolation.com
Deep Isolation, Inc.
2001 Addison St., Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704
www.deepisolation.com
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Category Visionaries, Sept 1, 2023
Front Lines: Elizabeth Muller
Elizabeth Muller, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Isolation, talks with us about the nuclear waste disposal solution that’s raised over $22 Million in funding.
Event, March 10 – 14, 2024
WM2024 Conference
Join nearly 3,000 attendees from more than 30 countries to discuss and share ideas on many crosscutting topics including: robotic handling, remote systems, new technologies, radioactive and hazardous waste characterization, treatment storage, packaging, transportation, and disposal, engineering design and construction, environmental laboratories, decontamination, decommissioning, and environmental remediation – as well as emerging topics such as small modular reactors, clean energy, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Spent Fuel (UxC.com), Sept 22, 2023
Spent Fuel Management Options in Estonia if the Country Goes Nuclear
Estonia’s government may decide next year if it will build a nuclear power plant and is studying several sites across the country to see if any are suitable. Fermi Energia has already investigated deep borehole disposal with Deep Isolation as a waste management option.
Nuclear Newswire, Aug 31, 2023
Deep Isolation receives ARPA-E award to further borehole disposal technologies
Deep Isolation announced this week that it has received funding from the Department of Energy to test a range of deep borehole disposal canisters at a test facility in Cameron, Texas, managed by the nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.
BERKELEY, CA – Deep Isolation is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s $9 million “CREATE” funding initiative to help shore up domestic energy production, improve energy efficiency and reliability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Deep Isolation’s selected project will deliver testing and demonstration of key technologies for deep borehole disposal at a test facility in Cameron, Texas managed by the non-profit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center.
The U.S. Department of Energy selected 18 projects covering a wide range of energy technologies across the nation, as part of the Creating Revolutionary Energy and Technology Endeavors (CREATE) Exploratory Topic managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The selected projects support America’s net-zero goals while increasing energy and national security.
This investment by the U.S. Department of Energy represents a major early contribution to the work of the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center – a nonprofit, multinational initiative launched by international stakeholders in February 2023 to progressively implement a full-scale demonstration of deep borehole disposal.
In the official ARPA-E announcement made earlier this month, Director Evelyn N. Wang said “the projects announced today are outside-the-box ideas, and present a variety of exciting ways to identify solutions and reach President Biden’s ambitious decarbonization goals”. Click here to read the ARPA-E press release.
Deep Isolation’s awarded proposal, titled Sequential Advancement of Technology for Deep Borehole Disposal (SAVANT) and led by Dr. Ethan Bates, Director of Systems Engineering for the company, is a close to half a million dollar project that focuses on laboratory and field testing of the Universal Canister System (UCS) being developed by Deep Isolation. Deep borehole disposal and the canister designs being advanced could provide a safe disposal option for most heat generating wastes currently in storage around the world and for a wide range of the spent fuels from major advanced nuclear reactors currently in development. Dr. Bates stated: “Our Technology Readiness Level assessments show that the canister emplacement and retrieval operations are key components of the wider disposal system that are priorities for additional tests and demonstration. By conducting laboratory, surface, and sub-surface testing of Deep Isolation’s canister designs at partner labs and at Cameron over the next two years, the SAVANT project will help us move deep borehole disposal as a total system from a conceptual design stage towards a licensing design stage”.
“This is another big achievement for our team, and a significant step forward for nuclear disposal”, said Rod Baltzer, COO at Deep Isolation. “I am very proud of our team and looking forward to working with global partners on tackling one of the biggest issues of our time”.
Ted Garrish, Director of the independent, nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center, said: “This is an exciting development that will accelerate the work of the international, public-private-partnership that is coming together to demonstrate the whole system on an end-to-end basis at the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center. I look forward to working with the Deep Isolation team to test the Universal Canister System and to share the results widely across the growing international community of stakeholders that see borehole disposal as pivotal to solving the world’s nuclear waste problem.”
This project supports ARPA-E’s mission of “improving management, clean-up and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel”.
In parallel, the project will open up a global opportunity for U.S. high-value manufacturing of deep borehole disposal system components estimated at $135 billion. As part of the SAVANT project, Deep Isolation will partner with EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute) to develop a U.S. based supply chain to support large-scale manufacture of the Universal Canister System. Craig Stover, Senior Program Manager at EPRI, says: “The supply chains surrounding advanced nuclear technologies are a key priority for the successful deployment of these technologies. The SAVANT project correctly identifies supply chain development as fundamental. Deep borehole disposal is an important option for the nuclear power companies that EPRI works with, and our team looks forward to supporting this technology option as it matures.”
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About Deep Isolation
Deep Isolation is a leading global innovator in nuclear waste storage and disposal solutions. Driven by a passion for environmental stewardship and scientific ingenuity, the company’s patented solution of advanced nuclear technologies enables global delivery through its partnerships with industry leaders as well as flexible IP licensing options.
About the Universal Canister System
Deep Isolation is developing – with support from the ARPA-E ONWARDS program – a Universal Canister System (UCS) for the safe storage, transport and disposal of spent nuclear fuel from advanced reactors. Once encapsulated in a UCS canister, the spent fuel from any advanced reactor will be both safe and future-proofed – that is, ready for any option the waste owner may choose in the future: long-term storage, disposal in a mined geologic disposal facility or disposal in a deep borehole repository. The prototype UCS canister being developed by the current ONWARDS project will be used for field testing at Cameron in Project SAVANT.
About the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center
The nonprofit Deep Borehole Demonstration Center was established to provide interested entities and governments worldwide with an independent organization through which to commission projects that characterize and advance the technical readiness of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal technologies. Work at the Center kicked off in February 2023, when it worked with industry partners Deep Isolation, Amentum and NAC International to conduct a first series of tests in Cameron, Texas. The tests demonstrated the compatibility of a newly designed waste canister for a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel assembly with standard lifting equipment for the oil and gas industry for use in deep borehole disposal operations. The PWR canister (developed by Deep Isolation) is suitable for disposal of the great majority of spent fuel assemblies currently in existence, and forms a key technology building block being used to inform the development of the Universal Canister System for future disposal of spent fuel from advanced reactors.
Press Contact
media@deepisolation.com
www.deepisolation.com
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Climate Base, Aug 1, 2023
Oppenheimer Brings Nuclear To The Forefront Of Cultural & Climate Tech
Today in our climate news section, “This Week In Climate”, we look at how Oppenheimer is bringing nuclear power to the forefront of the cultural conversation around climate tech.