Subduction for Permanent Disposal of Long-lived Highly Radioactive Nuclear Waste

Abstract

Subduction, the slow natural submersion of oceanic plates beneath continental plates of the earth, seems an ideal approach for permanent disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste. A single borehole drilled into the Juan de Fuca plate off Vancouver Island, 3 ft in diameter and 1 km deep, would cost $21 million, and would only be half-filled with the total spent uranium fuel produced in Canada in one year, less so with true waste, with ample space for cladding and capping. The deposited waste would then submerge at 5cm/year with the plate underneath the Northamerican continent, untouched for millions of years.