Category: Holtec Highlights

At Holtec, 2018 will be remembered as the year when the Company’s four-year quest to launch its decommissioning program reached a successful milestone. Three nuclear power plants, including Exelon’s Oyster Creek Generating Station, and Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, as well as the site of the decommissioned Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant near Charlevoix, Michigan, where only the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) remains, are under purchase/sale agreements to transfer their licenses, spent fuel and Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts to Holtec for accelerated decommissioning subject to U.S. NRC’s concurrence. As of this writing, the U.S. NRC has accepted the License Transfer Applications for these agreements. In another strategic development, Holtec and SNC-Lavalin (Canada) established a joint venture company named Comprehensive Decommissioning International, LLC (CDI) to carry out decommissioning projects around the world. Holtec’s subsidiary, Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI), will hold the Plants’ licenses and manage the Company’s nuclear assets. CDI and HDI are off to a running start, both dedicated to the safe, rapid, and economic decommissioning of shut down nuclear power plants.

RIVNE, UKRAINE, Dec 5, 2018; Representatives from Ukraine’s government, parliament, and various sectors of industry witnessed the culmination of a successful series of tests at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) that validated the various critical functions of Holtec-supplied equipment and systems for the country’s soon-to-be-operational Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility(CSFSF) (which is known as the “Consolidated Interim Storage Facility”in the United States). The first set of tests included successful verification of the functionality of the (patented) forced helium dehydration system, lift yokes, rail car, etc. – all supplied by Holtec International. The final test involved heavy load handling evolutions demonstrated by handling and maneuvering of the HI-TRAC transfer cask from the rail car to the main reactor hall of RNPP. Photos of various components are shown below. 

Camden, December 4, 2018: Speaking to a gathering of nuclear industry professionals, Holtec’s President and CEO, Dr. Kris Singh, called a decent basic wage a fundamental human right and announced that Holtec will celebrate the holiday season by raising the minimum base (standard time) wage for its work force at every one of its US plants to $15 per hour.  “This pay raise is a small measure of my appreciation for the hard-working individuals at all Holtec campuses.”

We are pleased to report successful dry storage implementations of both PWR and BWR multi-purpose canisters (MPCs) in HI-STORM vertical ventilated modules at numerous nuclear plant sites, setting new records in their curie content and heat load.  Out of the total of 170 HI-STORM systems loaded thus far, 135 have been loaded by Holtec’s own site services group. The total number of Holtec systems loaded globally to date stands at 1235 at this writing. The nuclear units that have increased their dry storage population of HI-STORM vertical ventilated systems (VVMs) in 2018 are (in alphabetical order): Browns Ferry (TVA), Callaway (Ameren), Clinton (Exelon), Comanche Peak (Luminant), Diablo Canyon (PG&E), D.C. Cook (American Electric Power), Farley (Southern Nuclear), Pilgrim (Entergy), SONGS (Southern California Edison), Vermont Yankee (Entergy), Vogtle (Southern Nuclear) and Watts Bar (TVA).

In a festive signing ceremony in Mumbai on November 21, Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Fadnavis hosted the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Holtec Asia to establish a manufacturing facility that would give India autonomous capability to produce systems and components to support the country’s planned expansion of nuclear generation. While the plant, preliminarily named “Holtec Heavy Manufacturing Division” (HHMD), primarily intended to fabricate complex and safety-related equipment for the nuclear power plants, it will also be equipped to meet the heavy weldment needs of petroleum, chemical, aerospace and other industries. The plant will operate under Holtec’s corporate nuclear and personnel safety programs which are applied uniformly across Holtec’s global operation centers in the US and abroad.  

Entergy Corp. and Holtec International, through their affiliates, asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today to approve the sale of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to Holtec after shutdown. Holtec plans to complete decommissioning and site restoration decades sooner than if Entergy completed decommissioning.

We are pleased to announce that the US Small Business Administration has approved the Mentor-Protégé Application between Gilmartin Engineering Works, Inc. (Protégé) and Holtec International (Mentor) under All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP).

Energy Secretary Rick Perry toured Holtec’s Advanced Manufacturing Division and Operations Center at the Company’s Krishna P. Singh (KPS) Technology Campus in Camden, New Jersey on October 25, 2018.

The rise of renewable energy generation, such as solar and wind, has introduced increasing oscillation in power output delivered to the electric grid. Storing electrical energy on an industrial scale to stabilize the transmission grid and to minimize wheeling of power over long distances is increasingly a critical imperative for the world’s energy infrastructure. Holtec International (Holtec) and Eos Energy Storage (Eos) based in Edison, NJ are poised to address this challenge using the revolutionary Eos Aurora® battery system powered by Eos’ proprietary Znyth® technology which is the centerpiece of the Alliance Agreement signed by Holtec and Eos. Under the Agreement, Holtec owns a significant equity stake in Eos and will establish a production facility in Camden, NJ, to manufacture the “batteries” in a state-of-the-art assembly line.

We are pleased to announce the successful completion of the largest defueling project of a BWR plant in the U.S. – a project that was completed in record time. Entergy Nuclear signed a contract with Holtec to expeditiously defuel the Vermont Yankee (VY) spent fuel pool. The overall project scope included construction of a second ISFSI pad, security expansion, engineering, licensing, manufacturing, delivery and loading of 45 HI-STORM cask systems, all on a turnkey basis.