Watts Bar Completes its Premier Pool-to-Pad Canister Loading Campaign, Successfully Overcoming its Subgrade Liquefaction Challenge

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.

In its early phases, the project faced a structural challenge in the ISFSI pad region in the form of a large patch of liquefaction-prone subgrade layers. Holtec and TVA engineers working together devised a stone column reinforced pad design which overcame the threat of liquefaction during the site’s (rather energetic) Design Basis Earthquake. Similar display of cooperation resulted in a successful dry storage campaign, in which the team consistently outperformed dose and schedule goals. As the dose data tabulated below shows, Watts Bar, in its very first loading campaign, set a new benchmark for ALARA.

Holtec International served as a turnkey supplier of all goods and services for the Watts Bar dry storage project with crucial support from TVA’s organization. “The superb outcome at Watts Bar could not have come about without the outstanding support of TVA’s project and engineering teams throughout the project’s life cycle, for which we are most grateful,” says Evrim Kalfazade, Holtec’s Alliance Manager.