nuclear startups

A startup is proposing to adapt horizontal drilling techniques, long perfected by the oil and gas industry, to the storage or disposal of nuclear waste. The idea would borrow methods used for decades to reach oil deposits sideways underground and apply them to burying radioactive material more safely and efficiently. Details about the company, its funding and the technical feasibility of the approach are not yet clear, but the concept is drawing attention as a potential answer to a decades-old problem in nuclear energy.

Analysts are questioning whether the wave of nuclear energy startups is good for the industry. The argument: dozens of small companies chasing advanced reactor designs may fragment funding, talent and regulatory attention, slowing the few projects capable of actually delivering. Critics counter that competition spurs innovation, but the concern is that too many unproven ventures could undermine confidence in nuclear power at a critical moment for its revival.

A startup is proposing to use horizontal drilling technology, which the oil and gas industry spent decades refining, to dispose of nuclear waste deep underground. The idea is to bore sideways repositories in stable rock formations, keeping radioactive material isolated far longer and more securely than conventional surface storage. The concept is drawing attention as a fresh answer to the long-unsolved problem of where to put spent nuclear fuel.