Jan 13 Is a borehole a possible solution for the special waste?

New report examines possibilities and economic aspects of a multinational borehole solution for Denmark's most radioactive waste.

DDanish Decommissioning has participated since 2012 in the international ERDO collaboration, where eight, primarily smaller European countries, jointly explore the possibilities and limitations for multinational disposal of particularly long-lived radioactive waste and for common solutions for the preceding treatment of the waste.

Our Norwegian sister organisation, Norsk Nukleær Dekommisjonering (NND), has, on behalf of ERDO, initiated a project exploring the extent to which a joint borehole for high-level and long-lived intermediate-level waste could be a viable option.

As part of the project, the American company Deep Isolation has prepared a report describing a potential joint borehole solution for the five ERDO members Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Norway, and Denmark, and the economics of such a solution.

“Parliamentary Resolution B90/2018 opens the possibility of finding separate solutions for the different fractions of Denmark's radioactive waste and also states that efforts to find an international solution for the special waste must continue. Therefore, the current project is of great interest to us, as a borehole could be an option specifically for that portion of the waste,” says DD's Director Ole Kastbjerg Nielsen, who nevertheless emphasizes that at this early stage, no decision has been made regarding which concepts will be pursued in the process towards a Danish final repository, and that the borehole report is just one of many inputs for future work.

Read the Deep Isolation report on NND's website
Read the news about the report on Deep Isolation's website
Read more about the ERDO collaboration