On March 31, 2017, the NRC will receive Holtec’s application submittal on the HI-STORE CIS, marking a historic day for the nuclear power industry. The application comprises a complete package of documents, including the Safety Analysis Report and the Environmental report on the HI-STORE CIS. “This submittal speaks to the superb dedication, competence and commitment of our 33-specialist team, led by Program Manager, Dr. Fred Bidrawn, and Licensing Manager, Ms. Kim Manzione,” announced Program Director, Ed Mayer, a decorated naval warrior who took over the HI-STORE program in 2015 after retiring from the Navy. HI-STORE CIS is the name of Holtec’s self-funded consolidated interim storage facility, which is being hosted by a coalition of counties and cities incorporated as ELEA, LLC in southeastern New Mexico.
Holtec thanks the NRC for conducting a pre-submittal technical audit in late February at our Technology Campus in Camden, NJ, which helped fine tune the content of our licensing package to accord with the NRC’s expectations. Our HI-STORE licensing package is also informed by our successful work on the Private Fuel Storage (PFS), LLC, initiative over a decade ago along with Pillsbury, Shaw, Pittman law firm (PFS, LLC remains the only licensed CIS in the US to this day). The exceedingly stringent criteria that emerged from the PFS’s licensing process and ASLB hearings, such as the 10,000-year return earthquake, have been proactively incorporated in the HI-STORE Design Criteria, leading to a substantially more fortified construction and to facilitate expeditious licensing. The unique safety considerations germane to a CIS have also been successfully applied by Holtec in the design of the CIS for Ukraine’s national nuclear company, ENERGOATOM, which has paved the way for a smooth granting of license in that country.
The HI-STORE CIS facility will utilize the subterranean storage system, HI-STORM UMAX, certified in the NRC’s Docket No. 72-1040. HI-STORM UMAX, has emerged in the past decade as the breakthrough technology that provides an unprecedented level of safety, security and environmental protection to the user. The dose emitted from the HI-STORM UMAX ISFSI is virtually zero, making the accreted dose to the environment, even at the site’s full capacity (10,000 loaded canisters), negligible. HI-STORE CIS is a truly universal storage system in as much as it is designed to accept every Canister currently loaded at every US nuclear plant. Therefore, every nuclear plant in the country, shutdown or operating, including even those that do not currently use Holtec’s storage systems, will be able to ship their canisters to the HI-STORE site.
We thank the State of New Mexico and especially the local communities in the vicinity of the proposed HI-STORE CIS site that have provided unwavering support for the program.
The support and encouragement provided by the Executive Branch of the State has been equally heartening by Ken McQueen, Secretary of Energy for New Mexico, Butch Tongate, Secretary of Environment for New Mexico, and their predecessors. Holtec, also, gratefully extends its appreciation to the steadfast support of the many legislators, especially those that represent Eddy and Lea Counties including Representative Cathrynn Brown, Senator Gay Kernan, Senator Carroll Leavell, Representative Jim Townsend, Representative Larry Scott and Representative David Gallegos. We also very much appreciate the leadership of Mayor Dale Janway of Carlsbad, Mayor Sam Cobb of Hobbs, Chairman Ron Black of the Lea County Commission, and Chairman Stella Davis of the Eddy County Commission. Speaking to the economic and national benefits of the away-from-reactor facility, Governor Susanna Martinez had written in a letter to the DOE Secretary of Energy, “I support the ELEA and its member cities and counties in their effort to establish a consolidated interim storage facility in southeastern New Mexico that will be regulated by the high safety and technical standards of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
The unequivocal support of the State Government and enthusiasm for the project, exhibited by the local community leaders, is best captured by Mr. John Heaton, a former legislator, respected community leader and Chairmen of the ELEA, LLC, who calls HI-STORE “a credentialed environment-friendly facility that will be a boon for the industrial health of the regional economy.”
“We are encouraged by the supportive posture exhibited by Energy Secretary Perry in his recent confirmation hearing and the DOE’s official affirmation of the private CIS initiatives by Deputy Assistant Secretary Andy Griffith at the Waste Management Symposium in Phoenix, AZ, on March 9,” says Holtec’s VP of Corporate Business Development, Ms. Joy Russell.
Press Conference Announcement
Holtec International is pleased to announce a press conference to discuss the submittal of Site-Specific License Submittal for Holtec International HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage (CIS) Facility to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission pursuant to 10CFR72 for the proposed CIS facility known as HI-STORE.
Press Conference Details:
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Room 2220, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
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