Holtec Highlights

We are pleased to report that the widely encountered problem of moving modern loaded casks across the nuclear plant’s “truck bay” (typically) designed for much lighter casks of 1970s vintage has been solved. The truck bay in a power plant is the main artery that links the plant to the outside world: It is the area through which all payloads used by the plant (component and machinery) must come and go. Unfortunately, truck bay slabs in a number of U.S. and overseas plants have local areas of structural deficiency that do not permit a modern full size cask, weighing as much as 200 tons, to be hauled across the bay in a conventional manner. This problem has forced some plants in the past to install support columns and girders to buttress the slab at a considerable expense. Others have resorted to temporary palliatives such as “load distribution systems” that must be assembled at each cask loading campaign and disassembled thereafter at considerable effort and cost. A cumbersome structure in the Truck Bay evidently is also an (undesirable) impediment to the movement of tools and equipment into and out of the plant. (more…)

We are pleased to announce Holtec International has signed a long-term contract with Union Electric Company (d/b/a Ameren Missouri) to deploy an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at the Callaway Energy Center. Under the Client Engaged Turnkey contract, Holtec will complete all facets of the engineering, site construction, security, fabrication, as well as pool-to-pad loading services to establish the dry spent fuel storage program at Callaway, located near Reform, Missouri. (more…)

Declaring that “the time has come to augment our executive team to better manage our rapidly expanding operations and to recognize the contributions of our most distinguished company stalwarts,” Dr. Kris Singh, Holtec’s President & CEO, presented certificates commemorating the elevation of Nicholas Abraczinskas, Pankaj Chaudhary, Joy Russell, and Mark Soler to the position of vice president. All four are Holtec veterans, having served in the position of “Director” (a mid-management corporate position) in different divisions at the Company’s New Jersey operations center. (more…)

We are pleased to announce the license application for securing the general certification of the HI-STORM UMAX, multi-purpose canister based storage system, was submitted to the USNRC last Friday, June 29, 2012. Engineered to store used fuel canisters in a below-grade configuration, HI-STORM UMAX is anatomically similar to the previously licensed HI-STORM 100U system, the development of which was prompted by the beyond-the-design-basis-threats in the wake of 9/11. HI-STORM UMAX is a larger version of HI-STORM 100U, with enhanced air circulation features and an increased cavity diameter to permit storage of any canister thus far in use at any site in the US. (more…)

We are pleased to announce the completion of the safety evaluation effort for the HISTORM UMAX (Underground MAXimum capacity) canister storage system (NRC Docket No. 72-1040). The licensing application submittal date is set for June 30, 2012. Underway since 2010, this effort was the subject of a pre-submittal briefing to the NRC’s Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation (SFST) on Thursday, April 19, 2012 [see Holtec Highlights Issue HH27.03]. The licensing package being submitted to the USNRC incorporates the Staff’s inputs from the pre-submittal briefing. The submittal for HI-STORM UMAX has a rather modest objective of obtaining the certification of only the Vertical Ventilated Module (VVM), as it contains no new MPC designs. (more…)