The manufacture of the canister represents a major milestone for their Energy Entrepreneurs Fund project, part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio of the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The corrosion-resistant canister, measuring nearly 5m in length and weighing over 2000kg, has been manufactured by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) in Rotherham, with support from Lancashire-based Graham Engineering. As part of this work, the canister design, driven by US fuel cycle specialist NAC International Inc., has been verified as meeting current UK regulatory requirements.

We now know how to refine the design to enable highly efficient manufacturing at scale

"This has been an exciting project for us, and a great example of US-UK partnership on nuclear waste disposal," Chris Parker, MD of Deep Isolation EMEA, said. "We already had a detailed engineering design for our disposal canister that we knew would meet regulatory requirements for safe, permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel. With the support of Nuclear AMRC's world-class team, technologies, and UK partners, we now know how to refine the design to enable highly efficient manufacturing at scale."

This important milestone was marked with a site visit to Nuclear AMRC's facilities by Deep Isolation and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is sponsoring this work as part of its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The full project team congregated to see the completed prototype before being shipped to the US for field testing.

Field testing

In the next phase of the project, the canister will be subjected to field testing at the Deep Borehole Demonstration Centre's test facility. Ted Garrish, executive director of the Deep Borehole Demonstration Centre, said: "It is exciting to have the world's first fully‑engineered deep borehole disposal canister coming for testing. The Deep Borehole Demonstration Centre is a non-profit, multinational initiative to demonstrate all aspects of this important technology for nuclear waste disposal, and I am delighted that Deep Isolation has chosen to test their canister here - and that both the UK Government's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the US Government's Department for Energy have committed grant funding to support this vital work."

In parallel, the University of Sheffield will validate the safety performance of the canister design through performance modelling in generic UK geologic environments.

A second prototype is planned for manufacture by early 2025, which will incorporate any design modifications derived from this testing and modelling programme, and from Nuclear AMRC's ‘Design for Manufacture' review to capture any improvements to the design that will make it more cost-effective to produce at scale.

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