Techniques for testing subterranean water for one or more radioactive isotopes for a hazardous waste material repository include collecting, from a test drillhole formed from a terranean surface to a subterranean formation, a subterranean water sample from the subterranean formation; determining, with an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system, a concentration of a radioactive isotope of an element in the subterranean water sample relative to a stable isotope of the element in the subterranean water sample; comparing the determined concentration of the radioactive isotope of the element in the subterranean water sample with a concentration of the radioactive isotope of the element in a surface water sample relative to the stable isotope of the element in the surface water sample; and based on the determined concentration of the radioactive isotope in the subterranean water sample being a specified percentage of the concentration of the radioactive isotope in the surface water sample, determining that the subterranean formation is a hazardous waste storage repository.

A system and method to safely isolate mobile radioactive material during an emergency includes a borehole located in close proximity and at a depth sufficient to safely isolate the material and a man-made vertical-oriented gravity fracture located at the bottom end of the borehole. During an emergency, the mobile radioactive material enters the borehole and then passes from there into the gravity fracture. The mobile radioactive material may have sufficient density to further propagate the fracture vertically downward or a dense slurry or fluid could be mixed with the mobile radioactive material.

A geological repository includes a subterranean spiral tunnel drilled or bored in a geological formation. The geological repository further includes spaced-apart storage compartments individually accessible from the spiral tunnel. The storage compartments are configured to receive storage canisters transported through the spiral tunnel. The plurality of storage compartments are formed in a body of rock.

A system and method of disposing nuclear waste and other hazardous waste includes means for, and the steps of, blending a waste stream, which includes either a radioactive waste or a hazardous waste (or both), with a liquid and, optionally, a solid material to produce a dense fluid and pumping the dense fluid into a tubing string of an injection boring. The dense fluid then exits a perforation in a casing of the injection boring and enters a fracture in a rock strata, where it continues to propagate downward until it reaches an immobilization point. The dense fluid may be a slurry formed by a metal and a cross-linked polymer gel or hydrated clay slurry. The metal can be one that has a melting temperature less than the temperature at the bottom of the injection boring. The solid material could also be other nuclear waste or a radionuclide.

Techniques for monitoring hazardous waste include identifying a hazardous waste drillhole formed from a terranean surface into one or more subterranean formations, the hazardous waste drillhole including an entry sized to receive a plurality of hazardous waste canisters that enclose hazardous waste into and through the entry, and a hazardous waste storage area formed in a storage subterranean formation and sized to receive the plurality of hazardous waste canisters; identifying a probe borehole formed from the terranean surface into the one or more subterranean formations adjacent the hazardous waste drillhole, the probe borehole having a diameter sized insufficiently to receive the plurality of hazardous waste canisters; and measuring, with at least one measurement instrument positioned in the probe borehole near the hazardous waste storage area, at least one parameter associated with the hazardous waste.

A system and method to safely isolate mobile radioactive material during an emergency includes a borehole located in close proximity and at a depth sufficient to safely isolate the material. An already- or pre-prepared vertical-oriented gravity fracture is located at the bottom end of the borehole, with the mobile radioactive material entering the gravity fracture during the emergency. A dense slurry or fluid could be mixed with the mobile radioactive material to create and propagate the gravity fracture as the radioactive material is being disposed of.

Systems and methods for long term disposal of high level nuclear waste in deep geologic formations are described. Such systems and method may include largely intact spent nuclear fuel rods in a disassembled form that may be placed into waste-capsules (e.g., carrier tubes); which may then be placed into various well boreholes. Example embodiments may provide waste-capsules capable of containing and disposing of waste generated from spent nuclear fuel, including means for harvesting the nuclear waste from cooling pools and operationally processing the waste fuel assemblies for inclusion in the waste-capsules with various engineered barriers; along with storage in horizontal well boreholes drilled into closed deep geologic formations.

A method of preparing an injection slurry for the sequestration of battery recycling waste includes contacting at least one battery recycling waste stream with an optional liquid, thereby forming a slurry, screening the slurry thereby forming a screened slurry, conditioning the screened slurry thereby forming a conditioned slurry, and determining whether a threshold injection criterion of the conditioned slurry has been met. The threshold injection criterion has been met, an injection slurry is thereby formed. A method of sequestering battery waste includes introducing an injection slurry including battery recycling waste into a subsurface structure at a depth of at least 500 m.

The invention discloses a real-time water-level monitoring system for a dumping site of an open-pit coal mine. The dumping site of the open-pit coal mine comprises an aboveground part and an underground part, where the aboveground part is a stacking site (1) located above an original ground surface. The real-time water-level monitoring system for a dumping site of an open-pit coal mine comprises a first measuring well (2) and a second measuring well (3), where the first measuring well (2) is arranged vertically in the center of the stacking site (1), and the second measuring well (3) includes a vertical section (301), a horizontal section (302), and a free section (303) connected in sequence; and a first water-impermeable layer (4), a second water-impermeable layer (5), and a third water-impermeable layer (6) are provided internally in the stacking site (1).

A process for treating waste from a pithead power plant and sequestrating carbon dioxide discharged therefrom is provided. A mixed material of solid waste from the power plant, cement and a mixing liquid is filled into a depleted coal mine and compacted. A hydrating liquid is then injected into the filler after compaction to cause hydration. After that, carbon dioxide discharged from the power plant is injected to mineralize the carbon dioxide, thereby achieving carbon dioxide sequestration and reinforcement of the depleted coal mine. The invention utilizes abundant basic oxides present in the solid waste, and the fact that calcium hydroxide and tobermorite present in the hydrated cement chemically react with the injected carbon dioxide to produce stable carbonates in solid, and thus simultaneously achieves carbon dioxide sequestration, treatment of solid waste, and reinforcement of a depleted coal mine.