Trump administration dropping nuclear waste burial test
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The U.S. Department of Energy is abandoning a test meant to determine whether nuclear waste can be buried far underground because of changes in budget priorities, the agency said Tuesday.
A spokeswoman said in a statement that the agency doesn’t intend to continue supporting the Deep Borehole Field Test project, which was meant to assess whether nuclear waste could be stored in approximately 3-mile-deep holes. Officials had stressed it wouldn’t involve the use of actual nuclear waste.
Federal energy officials said in December that companies were exploring potential sites for the test in South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico. Only one company would have eventually carried out the field test.
The project’s contract dictated that after the project was completed, the borehole would have been permanently sealed and the land restored.