There is a renewed push to scale technology that can extract energy from radioactive waste—and even reap power from Cold War-era bombs.

While mined deep geological repositories remain the standard for large-scale commercial spent nuclear fuel disposal, deep borehole disposal has emerged as a viable, modular disposal alternative, particularly for the diverse, non-traditional waste forms generated by advanced microreactors and SMRs. Jesse Sloan, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Deep Isolation, explained this disposal method, and the ...

The company is preparing to present at the NEI Used Fuel Management Conference in Savannah, Georgia, where Executive Vice President of Engineering Jesse Sloane will join the “Advanced Reactor Used Fuel I” session.

The Department of Energy wants to collaborate with states that agree to take in and possibly recycle used nuclear fuel, and some have responded positively. But practical and policy challenges remain.

Deep Isolation been selected for the DOE’s ARPA-E SCALEUP Ready program, one of only two projects to receive federal backing from a pool of up to $40 million.

Deep Isolation announced in late March 2026 that federally funded computer modeling shows burying high-level waste from recycled nuclear fuel in deep boreholes could keep radiation exposure levels several orders of magnitude below safety limits set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The SCALEUP program bridges the gap between pilot-scale demonstration and full commercial deployment.

Deep Isolation’s recent recognition enables them to demonstrate and scale permanent nuclear waste solution for commercial deployment.

The project includes a full-scale pilot in Texas, aiming to provide the world’s first commercial-ready deep borehole nuclear waste disposal solution.

California-based Deep Isolation joins ARPA-E’s SCALEUP programme to validate its Universal Canister System and demonstrate deep borehole disposal of advanced reactor waste through a commercial pilot in Texas.