Hazardous material repository systems and methods
AssigneeDeep Isolation, Inc.
InventorRichard A. Muller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hazardous material storage system includes a drillhole extending into the Earth and including an entry at least proximate a terranean surface. The drillhole includes a substantially vertical portion, a curved portion, and a horizontal portion that includes a hazardous waste repository formed within a first portion of the horizontal portion of the drillhole, the hazardous waste repository vertically isolated, by a rock formation, from a subterranean zone that includes mobile water, and a safety runway formed within a second portion of the horizontal portion exclusive of the hazardous waste repository and adjacent the curved portion, the safety runway defined by a particular length.
Claims36
A method, comprising:
- identifying a drillhole that extends from a terranean surface and into one or more subterranean formations, the drillhole comprising a vertical portion, a curved portion, and a horizontal portion that comprises a hazardous waste repository formed within the horizontal portion of the drillhole;
- dropping a test canister into the drillhole in a free fall event;
- determining, based on a travel distance of the dropped test canister into the horizontal portion of the drillhole, a length of a safety runway of the horizontal portion of the drillhole that is approximately equal to the travel distance from into the horizontal portion of the drillhole from a transition between the vertical portion and the horizontal portion;
- moving at least one hazardous waste canister through an entry of the drillhole, the at least one hazardous waste canister comprising an inner cavity that encloses hazardous waste material;
- moving the at least one hazardous waste canister through the vertical portion of the drillhole and through the curved portion of the drillhole;
- moving the at least one hazardous waste canister from the curved portion through the safety runway of the horizontal portion of the drillhole;
- moving the at least one hazardous waste canister from the safety runway of the horizontal portion of the drillhole into the hazardous waste repository of the horizontal portion of the drillhole, the at least one hazardous waste canister sized to fit from the entry through the vertical portion, the curved portion, the safety runway of the horizontal portion of the drillhole, and into the hazardous waste repository of the horizontal portion of the drillhole;
- and
- positioning the at least one hazardous waste canister exclusively in the hazardous waste repository and externally to the safety runway.
A method, comprising:
- identifying a drillhole that extends from a terranean surface and into one or more subterranean formations, the drillhole comprising a vertical portion, a curved portion, and a horizontal portion that comprises a hazardous waste repository formed within the horizontal portion of the drillhole;
- dropping a test canister into the drillhole in a free fall event;
- determining, based on a travel distance of the dropped test canister into the horizontal portion of the drillhole, a length of a safety runway of the horizontal portion of the drillhole that is approximately equal to the travel distance into the horizontal portion of the drillhole from a transition between the vertical portion and the horizontal portion;
- and
- subsequent to the determination, moving at least one hazardous waste canister through an entry of the drillhole, the at least one hazardous waste canister comprising an inner cavity that encloses hazardous waste material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.