Publications

Deep Borehole Laboratory and Borehole Testing Strategy: Generic Drilling and Testing Plan

Kuhlman, Kristopher L.; Hardin, Ernest H.; Rigali, Mark J.

This report presents a generic (i.e., site-independent) preliminary plan for drilling, testing, sampling, and analyzing data for a deep characterization borehole drilled into crystalline basement for the purposes of assessing the suitability of a site for deep borehole disposal (DBD). This research was performed as part of the deep borehole field test (DBFT). Based on revised U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) priorities in mid-2017, the DBFT and other research related to a DBD option was discontinued; ongoing work and documentation were closed out by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017. This report was initiated as part of the DBFT and documented as an incomplete draft at the end of FY 2017. The report was finalized by Sandia National Laboratories in FY2018 without DOE funding, subsequent to the termination of the DBFT, and published in FY2019. This report presents a possible sampling, testing, and analysis campaign that could be carried out as part of a future project to quantify geochemical, geomechanical, geothermal, and geohydrologic conditions encountered at depths up to 5 km in crystalline basement.