Nuclear Waste Innovator Deep Isolation Further Validates Borehole Technology for Safe Disposal of Recycled Fuel Waste
BERKELEY, Calif., March 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deep Isolation Nuclear, Inc. ("Deep Isolation" or the "Company"), a leading innovator in nuclear waste disposal technology, today announced the successful completion of its work under the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) project titled "Enabling the Near Term Commercialization of an Electrorefining Facility to Close the Metal Fuel Cycle." The project, led by Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO), aimed to enhance key technologies supporting the recycling of used nuclear fuel through electrorefining.
Deep Isolation's analysis confirmed that nuclear waste streams partitioned through the Argonne-baseline electrorefining process are compatible with deep borehole disposal, demonstrating a safe and practical pathway for permanent isolation. Physics-based modeling showed that high-level waste, when disposed of in Deep Isolation's deep borehole system within generic shale and granitic host rocks, achieved long-term safety levels surpassing targets set in developing the model and achieving exposure levels that were several orders of magnitude below a stringent radiological exposure dose standard.
The results of this comprehensive initiative provide confidence that borehole disposal could serve as a viable option for high-level radioactive waste from advanced reactor fuel recycling, highlighting a potential pathway for closing the metal fuel cycle if U.S. law is changed to authorize borehole repositories for high-level waste.
"This collaboration with Oklo represents an important step forward for the advanced reactor ecosystem and our deep borehole disposal solutions for nuclear waste," said Jesse Sloane, Executive Vice President of Engineering, Deep Isolation. "By pairing innovation in fuel recycling with advanced deep geologic disposal technology, we are helping build the technical foundation for a fully integrated, sustainable nuclear future."
Funded through ARPA-E's ONWARDS program, the project brought together public and private partners to accelerate the commercialization of fuel recycling technologies, strengthen safeguards, and develop pathways for waste minimization and final disposal. The outcomes support a growing industry consensus that long-term waste strategies must evolve in tandem with deployment of next-generation reactors.
About Deep Isolation
Deep Isolation is the first company to undertake development of technologies for nuclear waste disposal in deep boreholes. When commercialized Deep Isolation's solution will offer a uniquely tailored solution to help countries identify, plan for and complete the necessary steps to dispose of their nuclear waste inventories. With 99 patents issued to date, Deep Isolation's technology is being designed to leverage proven drilling practices to allow safe isolation of waste deep underground in horizontal, vertical, or slanted borehole repositories. Deep Isolation's Universal Canister System was developed through a three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy and is engineered to support integrated management of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste from legacy and advanced reactors across storage, transportation and eventual disposal.
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Forward-Looking Statements
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Forward-looking statements in this or any other news release are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and assumptions are subject to a number of factors, including, among others: the failure of a market to develop for our deep borehole disposal solutions as quickly as we expect or at all; a failure of demand for our solution to develop sufficiently; regulatory and legal developments, including issues relating to obtaining regulatory approvals or permissions on the timelines we expect or at all; our lack of profitability; delays or failure in our initiative to complete a full-scale, at-depth demonstration of our Universal Canister System and our deep borehole solution; our failure to enter into contracts with customers or, once we do enter into contracts, to continue such contractual relationships or to receive new contract awards; our dependency on governmental contracts and awards; our failure to manage our growth effectively or to execute our business plan; a failure to sustain and expand relationships with governmental entities and strategic partners; failure in the assumptions or analyses we have used in supporting forecasts or plans; our inability to commercialize our products at scale; the development or deployment of other technologies or solutions supplanting or competing with our technologies; challenges to our intellectual property; failures to protect, maintain, enforce, and enhance our intellectual property, and claims by others of intellectual property infringement; political and public perceptions of nuclear energy, including perceptions as to accidents or other high-profile events involving nuclear power facilities or radioactive materials; our liquidity and ability to raise capital; any inability to control operating and project costs and project delays or other project-related problems; security (including cybersecurity) breaches or disruptions; geopolitical, macroeconomic, domestic events or crises, including supply chain disruptions and other risks and uncertainties outside of our control; weather and effects of climate change; and litigation or legal proceedings that may be brought against us.
The foregoing is not an exhaustive list of all the factors that may cause any forward-looking statements to prove inaccurate or our actual results to differ materially from our expectations and forecasts. Moreover, we operate in a highly regulated environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements, and we cannot guarantee future results, performance, or achievements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this release or to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as required by law.
Additional information concerning the factors above and other factors will be found in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the sections titled "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025 filed with the SEC on November 14, 2025, our Form S-1, originally filed August 18, 2025 and subsequently amended, and in filings with the SEC that will be made in the future. The Company's SEC filings are available free of charge at www.sec.gov or upon written request to Deep Isolation Nuclear at [email protected].
