Yearly Archives: 2016

We are pleased to report the safe and successful completion of the first cask loading campaign at Watts Bar, home of TVA’s newest PWR located on the Tennessee River. The plant utilizes Holtec’s high capacity MPC-37 canister, whose high heat rejection capacity is attributed to the monolithic fuel basket made from METAMIC-HT, a patented nanotechnology product introduced by Holtec in 2006. (more…)

We are pleased to report that the license application to store the NUHOMS 24PT1-DSC canister in the HI-STORM UMAX subterranean storage system has been submitted to the U.S. NRC on schedule, as announced previously in this news bulletin (HH-31.09). The submittal presents a robust safety case for the processes for extracting the dry shielded canister from its horizontal module, up-righting and installing it in the HI-STORM UMAX’s subterranean cavity. As expected, change in the storage configuration from the horizontal NUHOMS to the vertical HI-STORM UMAX improves every metric of safety and security for the fuel which should help expedite NRC’s certification. The unavailability of proprietary design information from the canister’s designer, Areva, did not prove to be much of an impediment in the safety analysis effort. In due time, Holtec plans to submit all remaining canister types supplied by others that are presently in use around the U.S. for transfer to the HI-STORM UMAX. The object of this licensing campaign is to make it possible to store all U.S. commercial fuel at our planned Eddy-Lea alliance-sponsored HI-STORE CISF (consolidated interim storage facility) in Southeast New Mexico using a common storage system and a single type of ancillary equipment, to minimize human error. (more…)

On August 3, 2016, at the semi-annual gathering of the Holtec Advisory Council, senior officers of Atomic and Automation International, a UAE (United Arab Emirates)-based Company, dedicated to spearheading the infusion of western power plant technologies in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, signed an agreement with Holtec International to launch a joint venture to leverage Holtec’s technology assets to aid in the region’s industrialization. The joint venture will be named “Holtec Arabia” and will be based in Dubai, UAE. Its immediate mission consists of expanding the deployment of Holtec’s cutting edge technology in heat transfer equipment and systems including stainless steel air-cooled condensers, water-cooled condensers, feedwater heaters, etc., for the power and process industries. The joint venture will also provide storage and transport systems for spent nuclear fuel to the region’s budding nuclear power industry. The joint venture will build on Holtec’s existing business presence and substantial brand name recognition in the Middle East. (more…)