We are pleased to announce the award of a contract by Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) for the design, licensing and supply of an IAEA Type B Transport Cask for operational and decommissioning waste. The waste is segmented and packaged using processes and equipment developed by SKB in cooperation with the Swedish Nuclear Power Companies and has already been used to package over 70 rectangular tanks with operational waste. These tanks will be transported from the Swedish Nuclear Plants to interim storage facilities or a final repository (when it becomes available) using the Holtec developed transport cask.
This is Holtec’s second contract with SKB, following last year’s contract for development and supply of a new set of spent fuel transport casks compliant with the latest IAEA regulations to replace their existing fleet (see HH 28.23). Holtec’s Director of International Projects, Dr. Rick Springman, commented on the technology milestone that will be attained by the new transport package stating, “We are pleased to support SKB with the development of a new transport cask to support their proven processes for segmenting and packaging waste. Our cask will provide SKB, for the first time, the ability to transport this waste offsite to a central storage facility or final repository, enabling maximum flexibility in SKB’s backend management plans.” The cask will be licensed in the United States and Sweden.
This project is fully aligned with Holtec’s decade-long drive to devise efficient solutions for storage and transport of high activity, non-fuel waste.
Last year, the first loading campaign of Holtec’s HI-SAFE non-fuel waste storage system designed for operational and decommissioning waste at Jose Cabrera Nuclear Power Plant in Spain was completed. This loaded the first set of HI-SAFE systems with reactor internals from decommissioning (see figure to the right). The HI-SAFE systems reside alongside Holtec’s HI-STORM dry cask storage systems at the Jose Cabrera Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The HI-SAFE system is compatible with the HI-STORM ancillary equipment enabling an efficient, integrated solution for end of life needs.
In addition, a nuclear generating station in the mid-western U.S. loaded four (4) HI-SAFE systems with compacted Control Rod Blades and other activated BWR components and placed them into interim storage on-site (see photo below). The site is scheduled to load one (1) additional HI-SAFE system in 2014, with additional loadings planned for two (2) other sites for similar BWR waste components.
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