Holtec Highlights

We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our Friction Stir Welding (FSW) development program for joining Metamic-HT®; a nano-particle reinforced Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) that serves both as the neutron absorber and as the structural material of the fuel baskets in Holtec’s latest model Multi-Purpose Canisters (MPC) and transportation casks.  The successful demonstration and qualification of the joining process, the development of which began in earnest after the certification of Metamic-HT by the USNRC in 2009, now gives Orrvilon the option to utilize FSW instead of the previously planned Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding process. (more…)

Holtec has continued its technology leadership in the wet storage of nuclear fuel this past year with new contracts for development of high density racks for the latest generation reactors (APR-1400 and ABWR), for capacity expansion at operating plants, and for site construction services in which the Company has a storied past of heroic achievements going back to the 1980’s. A new milestone in site services was reached last month when the Company successfully de-gassed storage cells at a U.S. Nuclear Plant using remote means, liberating eight (8) used fuel assemblies that had lain entrapped in constricted storage cells for decades. Other pioneering undertakings in 2012 included analyses (and technical solutions, as needed) of Fukushima inspired events such as severe earthquakes, boron dilution, postulated loss of water, and energy impacts of wind born projectiles entering the spent fuel pool. A new passive pool cooling technology, named HI-COOL, was also developed for retrofit at operating plants. (more…)

We are pleased to note, over the past two years, Holtec’s Power Plant Component Division (PPCD) has emerged as a prominent supplier of heat transfer equipment for Nuclear Power Plants. PPCD has designed, fabricated, and supplied numerous heat exchangers and other heat transfer equipment for Nuclear Power Plants based in the U.S. and overseas. Each piece of heat transfer equipment identified below was fabricated at Holtec’s Manufacturing Division (HMD) located in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. HMD is a 657,000 sq. feet state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, holding ASME stamps including Section VIII, Section III (Nuclear) and ISO certifications. (more…)

We regret to report that the country’s first NRC licensed consolidated interim storage facility planned for the Goshute reservation in Skull Valley, Utah, by Private Fuel Storage, LLC (PFS, LLC) has ceased due to opposition from the Department of Interior. PFS, LLC, an entrepreneurial group consisting of eight utilities in February 2006, secured a hard won approval from the NRC to build an autonomous consolidated interim storage facility comprised of up to 4,000 HI-STORM 100 systems, capable of storing a total of 40,000 tons of uranium. During the licensing process (1997-2006), the state of Utah litigated PFS’s application before the NRC and following approval in 2006, appealed NRC licensing decisions to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. (more…)

We mark the passing of year 2012 with a sense of satisfaction derived from numerous new accomplishments and milestones for our Company garnered by the diligence and perseverance of our associates here in the U.S. and overseas. We extend our year-end greetings to our clients, our personnel at all eight operation centers, and our suppliers who have helped make 2012 a memorable year of solid achievements for our Company. (more…)

Holtec International is pleased to announce the signing of a 10-year fleet-wide contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for providing the goods and services necessary to assist TVA’s dry cask storage of used nuclear fuel. The scope to be performed by Holtec through this long term partnership includes the establishment of a Watts Bar Nuclear Plant dry cask storage program as a Client Assisted Turnkey undertaking. It also includes the continuing supply of dry cask storage equipment and services to the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN) and the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant (SQN). (more…)

We are pleased to announce the completion of the development of an underground used fuel storage technology, termed HI-STORM CIS, to store large quantities of used nuclear fuel at a Consolidated Interim Storage (CIS) facility envisioned by the Blue Ribbon Commission. Begun in the wake of 9/11, Holtec’s underground storage technology has steadily matured over the past 10 years. The HI-STORM CIS facility (see schematic below) is the next generation underground storage design that will house used fuel packaged in any canister supplied by any cask vendor. The HI-STORM CIS features a monitored underground storage cavity with the used fuel’s decay heat passively rejected to the ambient air above and its radiation contained within the earth’s subterranean continuum. The radiation released to the environment from the HI-STORM CIS facility storing vast quantities of used fuel equates to a fraction of the background cosmic and solar radiation that pervades our planet, i.e., negligibly small.

(more…)