Holtec International is pleased to announce the signing of a 10-year fleet-wide contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for providing the goods and services necessary to assist TVA’s dry cask storage of used nuclear fuel. The scope to be performed by Holtec through this long term partnership includes the establishment of a Watts Bar Nuclear Plant dry cask storage program as a Client Assisted Turnkey undertaking. It also includes the continuing supply of dry cask storage equipment and services to the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) and the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN).
Holtec will assist TVA in its transition to a dry cask storage system at BFN and SQN that has higher fuel loading capacity, HI-STORM FW (Holtec International Storage Module Flood and Wind) Dry Storage technology. The Pressurized Water Reactor (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWRs) canisters store 37 and 89 fuel assemblies, respectively. Starting immediately, Holtec will also assume the responsibility for pool-to-pad fuel loading services at BFN and SQN. TVA currently has over 57 HI-STORM 100 Systems (the predecessor to Holtec’s highest capacity HI-STORM FW System) on the ISFSI pads at its SQN and BFN sites.
To strengthen the quality and broaden the depth of services to TVA, Holtec will maintain an Alliance Manager on TVA’s corporate premises with the mandate to leverage Holtec’s resources to deliver superb support in all aspects of TVA’s needs including dry storage.
Implementation of the HI-STORM FW system at Browns Ferry in 2013 will mark the first implementation of Holtec’s highest capacity dry cask storage system in the industry. Another key feature of the HI-STORM FW technology is its ability to withstand prolonged flood events. TVA’s decision to implement the HI-STORM FW with MPC-37 (at Sequoyah and Watts Barr) enables the storage of 37 used PWR fuel assemblies in oversized storage cells. The HI-STORM FW Systems with MPC-89 (at BFN) enables the storage of 89 used BWR fuel assemblies in oversized storage cells. This provides TVA the flexibility to develop an optimized used fuel pool defueling strategy. The entire fuel basket is manufacture from METAMIC-HT, the industry’s first nano-particle based beutron absorber material licensed by the USNRC in 2008. All equipment will be fabricated at Holtec’s two main manufacturing facilities; namely the 500,000-square-foot Holtec Manufacturing Division (HMD) located in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania and at the 350,000-square-foot Orrvilon facility located in Orville, Ohio.