Deep Isolation has begun site preparation and construction of the drilling pad at the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center near Cameron, Texas. It is the first field step in the full-scale demonstration of deep borehole disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste. The pad is scheduled for completion in December 2026.
The pad serves as the base for the drilling, casing and cementing operations needed to build the demonstration borehole. Once drilling is finished, the site will host the equipment to lower and retrieve the Universal Canister System, the company’s patented container. The test will use non-radioactive packages to simulate the operations of an actual repository, including the retrieval phase.
The project is part of the Commercialization Pilot, which kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony on January 28, 2026. Participants include the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center, Halliburton, Amentum, NAC International and Occlusion Nuclear Solutions. The center is located at Halliburton’s drilling technology facility, so the technique relies on tools already in use in the oil and gas industry.
Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E SCALEUP Ready program, which in April 2026 awarded up to $40 million to two projects. Deep Isolation’s share of the support is up to $20 million. The program aims to move promising technologies from the laboratory to commercial demonstration.
Jesse Sloane, the company’s executive vice president for engineering, describes the milestone as the move from the design phase to field operations, where the operational data needed for commercialization are gathered. Halliburton contributes its drilling and well-construction experience from complex projects.
For countries with a nuclear program, finding a solution for the back end of the fuel cycle is a building block of any expansion plan. Deep boreholes are an alternative to mined geological repositories such as Finland’s Onkalo. For Italy, which has yet to choose the site for its national repository, the data from Cameron will show how practical the approach is for smaller waste volumes.
The schedule is clear: pad by December, then drilling and completion of the borehole. If the demonstration confirms expectations on lowering and retrieving the canisters, Deep Isolation will have the data to approach regulators and first customers, including outside the United States.
