Publications

Conceptual Design and Requirements for Characterization and Field Test Boreholes: Deep Borehole Field Test

Kuhlman, Kristopher L.; Brady, Patrick V.; MacKinnon, R.J.; Heath, Jason; Herrick, Courtney G.; Jensen, Richard P.; Rigali, Mark J.; Hadgu, Teklu H.; Sevougian, Stephen D.; Birkholzer, Jens T.; Freifeld, Barry M.; Daley, Tom D.

Deep Borehole Disposal (DBD) of high-level radioactive wastes has been considered an option for geological isolation for many years (Hess et al. 1957). Recent advances in drilling technology have decreased costs and increased reliability for large-diameter (i.e., ≥50 cm [19.7”]) boreholes to depths of several kilometers (Beswick 2008; Beswick et al. 2014). These advances have therefore also increased the feasibility of the DBD concept (Brady et al. 2009; Cornwall 2015), and the current field test, introduced herein, is a demonstration of the DBD concept and these advances.