Deep Isolation, a US-based developer of nuclear fuel disposal technology, closed a $20m series A round today led by NAC International, a radioactive material services subsidiary of industrial and engineering firm Hitachi Zosen.
Founded in 2016, Deep Isolation deposits cannisters containing nuclear waste in boreholes penetrating deep beneath the ground using its horizontal drilling technology, a method it claims is safer than existing alternatives.
NAC will assign an as-yet-unnamed representative to Deep Isolation’s board of directors in conjunction with its investment. Deep Isolation’s co-founders include chief technology officer Richard Muller, a professor emeritus of physics at University of California, Berkeley.
The company had already closed a seed round sized above $10m in January 2019 with commitments from unnamed individual investors. NAC formed a collaboration agreemeent with it the same year.
Kent Cole, president and chief executive of NAC, said: “Deep Isolation is leveraging proven horizontal drilling and conveyance technology from the oil and gas industry to develop a patent-protected method for effectively disposing of used nuclear fuel and high-level waste.”