Deep Isolation: The Only Nuclear Waste Disposal Stock
Finally... a capex-light way to get exposure to the nuclear industry.
Deep Isolation Nuclear (DBHL), has a market cap of roughly $300 million.
I have been searching for a capex-light business model to get exposure to the nuclear renaissance, and Deep Isolation might be the best way.
This is a company trying to create a permanent solution for nuclear waste. While anti-nuclear energy activists often sensationalize the issue and act like it’s worse than it really is... it is true that most power plants have no long-term plan to store the waste they generate. For now, it’s just stored in containers on site.
Deep has devised a novel way to store the waste underground, by using mostly standard oil and gas equipment:
Instead of excavating a massive mined repository hundreds of feet underground, which is what most countries have spent decades and billions failing to permit...
You drill a borehole one to two kilometers deep using drilling techniques borrowed from the shale industry.
You place canisters of spent nuclear fuel in the horizontal section at the bottom, far below any groundwater, sealed in stable rock. Then you seal the hole.
This would be dramatically cheaper and faster to deploy than centralized repositories deep underground or in mountains.
Business Model
Deep Isolation does generate some revenue today, but not from disposing of nuclear waste, because they have not disposed any nuclear waste yet. In the second quarter of 2026 the company reported revenues of $1.3 million, and that came primarily through consulting and advisory work, through a subsidiary they acquired called Freestone.
In term’s of Deep’s monetization plans, they have an asset-light nuclear waste disposal solution, and the ability to license out their vast IP portfolio to hasten the roll-out of their technology to utilities and government entities.
Once a company or government has entered the project pipeline as a serious potential buyer, they will work through a three stage process to evaluate any future project:
Strategic Appraisal - Taking approximately 4-6 months to complete for $100-200k. This is going over initial feasibility assessments and evaluating which solution might be best for the client.
Operational Planning - A roughly ~12 month process for $1-2 million in revenue for Deep. OP is a comprehensive feasibility assessment going over project geology, specified solution planning, creating a implementation model and looking at financing options, etc.
Implementation - Actually building out the waste solution is estimated to take 5-15 years, depending on project complexity and permitting. The potential revenue value of these contracts can exceed $1 billion in total revenues over the life of the project.
While the potential long-term value of nuclear waste disposal and storage can have large contracts attached, it will take a long time before Deep is starting to roll out commercial projects. In the mean time, investors are banking on various projects entering the planning phase and providing several million dollars in revenue.
As of this month, there are roughly 40 companies/entities in the project pipeline and 9 of those were somewhere in the contracting stages above.
In earlier presentations, management estimated that they could generate $140 million in revenues by 2030. That would likely be without a full commercial project online yet...
Income is lumpy and project-driven, but not nearly as risky and capex-intensive as something like Westinghouse building nuclear power plants themselves.
Partnerships/Validation
To reduce risk even further, Deep is partnered with:
Amentum on engineering services and licensing/commercialization of their technology.
Dominion Engineering on sales and deployment of patented disposal tech.
NAC International on manufacturing and supply of canisters for waste storage.
And Halliburton who will provide drilling and well construction expertise.
This isn’t even all of their partnerships, and these companies are experienced engineering and nuclear firms. They significantly de-risk Deep itself, and the roll-out of their disposal solution as they will have experienced partners every step of the way.
Even better, Westinghouse is involved as well, collaborating as a launch customer to help secure the NRC’s certification of Deep’s canister system.
If you are worried about whether the tech will work or not, there are no guarantees... but these various high-profile partners provide a level of credibility that I am looking for when investing in novel technologies.
I’m not a nuclear engineer, so I tend to rely on finding companies with external validation in cases like this. That’s the exact same reason I invested in Aduro and had faith in their process for plastic recycling. They had Shell and other majors on board testing their technology, that at least tells you they have something promising, if nothing else.
Deep Isolation is also running a full-scale demonstration, non-radioactive pilot in Texas. That launched in January. This is to demonstrate the drilling, placement of canisters at depth, and retrieval.
Industry
When looking at the industry broadly, the IAEA, EIA, and other governing bodies in the nuclear sector estimate that the addressable market for Deep could be roughly $300 billion by 2050.
The accelerating growth of small modular reactor development, and a growing desire to build large-scale nuclear plants will lead to higher demand for waste disposal as well.
The United States alone has about 90,000 metric tons of commercial spent fuel with no permanent repository in place. The federal government has been paying utilities damages for failing to take custody of it. Various countries around the world are facing the same issue.
Not only is there a commercial demand for Deep’s solution, but it would put the fears of nuclear doomers past us if we had a solid solution for storing nuclear waste.
Competitors
When thinking about competition for a company like Deep Isolation, the deep borehole concept itself is not proprietary to this company. The DOE studied deep borehole disposal for years. As of making this video, there are no other direct competitors trying to do this. Deep is the only one...
What Deep Isolation has done is build a patent portfolio around various implementation techniques to make it difficult for anyone else to copy them. Deep has 114 U.S. or international patents issued, and 44 more in development. So, they have a strong IP portfolio protecting their process. This portfolio spans repository architecture, site characterization, canister systems, emplacement and retrieval.
Their main competition is less so actual companies and more about a different approach. The main alternative is mined geological repositories, mined underground or in mountains. This is what Finland has done with Onkalo and what the US was attempting to do with Yucca Mountain.
Holtec International, NAC International, Orano and other nuclear industry players offer interim storage solutions, but none covering the entire waste disposal process like Deep does.
So, the primary moat at the moment is the company’s patent portfolio. Which can often be circumnavigated eventually, but that takes a long time. Now Deep has to prove itself and cross the regulatory and commercial thresholds to prove out the process and start generating significant revenues.
Financial Analysis
Moving onto the financials, in Q2 2026, revenue was $1.3 million. As mentioned earlier, that is from consulting services right now.
Research and development expenses were about $1.2 million, driven by ordering long-lead items and engineering for the demonstration project. SG&A was $2.7 million, up 24%, from higher accounting, legal, travel, and new hire expenses.
So, the overall net loss was $3.0 million for the quarter, versus a $1.4 million loss in Q2 2025. Losses are increasing, but still low when compared to other business models in the industry. But yes, this is essentially a pre-revenue company.
Looking at the balance sheet, cash was at $19 million, down from $27 million at year-end 2025, so they burned roughly $8 million in the first half of the year. Total liabilities were just $2.0 million, essentially no debt beyond small lease obligations.
Burning through $3-4 million per quarter gives them about a year of runway before they need to raise more capital.
With that said, that runway can be extended by non-dilutive and grant funding from government entities.
ARPA-E, an agency under the DOE, is set to provide up to $20 million in grant funding for the company to prove out its process. This is in addition to any other funding avenues Deep might find over the coming years. So, dilution could be relatively minimal.
Risks
Thinking about the risks for this company...
It seems like the technology should be a safe bet, but there are always risks that something goes wrong.
Financing and dilution is always a concern with pre-revenue stocks. We will see if they source non-dilutive funding that can cover costs until they reach profitability... chances are they will need to sell shares a few times.
The company’s shares only started trading publicly, relatively recently. Long-term shareholders or insiders can now sell and that could create a potential overhang if any large shareholders want out.
While this company will be capex-light compared to the rest of the industry, they still face timeline risk where regulatory approval and project build-outs can take many years.
Catalysts
Potential catalysts in the future:
Further grant funding
Progress on the demonstration project
Any contract announcements with the government or utilities
I have been desperately searching for a good way to get exposure to the nuclear energy trend, which should continue into the decades to come. Deep Isolation might just be that stock. My main reservation is the timeline to their first initial commercial project...
Chances are this will take place after the main pilot demonstration, set to finish in 2027. And it will take years to finalize the first commercial project, so we are looking at... possibly the early 2030s. That is a long time to wait for validation and significant revenues from the main product.
Granted, they are estimating around $140 million in revenue by 2030, mostly from project appraisals and planning assessments. Various contract milestones.
With no real margin of safety to speak of, paying for a roughly $300 million market cap on a company potentially 5+ years away from its first commercial project is risky within itself. I think I will just watch the company for the next few years and see if management continues to execute.
If and when I decide to invest in the company, I will likely make a more in-depth report going over every aspect of the business. For now, it will be on the watch list.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained in this video constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Green Investing to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in any jurisdiction.
All content in this video is information of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. You alone assume the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content in this video before making any decisions based on such information.