NPD’s technical expertise in design and analysis is concentrated in solid mechanics, soil mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and nuclear physics. The technical specialists based in NPD provide technical support to all Holtec operating divisions as well as external clients.
The NPD’s principal areas of proven analytical competence are:
- Nuclear physics: Includes criticality and shielding analysis, off-site dose prediction and safety analysis of rad-waste systems. The nuclear physics group, based in Camden and Kiev, has produced hundreds of safety analysis reports for NPD projects and for external clients.
- Thermal-hydraulics: Experts in simulation of fluid systems on the computational Fluid Dynamics code FLUENT (extensively benchmarked by Holtec), NPD’s thermal-hydraulicists are capable of simulating the steady state and transient thermal and hydraulic response of complex fluid systems with uncanny accuracy. Their body of work is documented in hundreds of industry reports and safety analyses.
- Structural mechanics: Prognostication of structures’ response under impact and collision phenomena, dynamic response of structures under earthquakes including non-linear behavior, complex finite element simulations are among the areas where the NPD’s core competence. Less abstruse calculations like classical stress analysis piping stress analysis, and ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code analyses are also routinely performed by the NPD’s analyst group.
- Soil-structure Interaction (SSI): Predicting the seismic response of large, heavy structures with geometric and material non-linearities with appropriate incorporation of the effect of the subgrade is an essential safety analysis to qualify nuclear plant structures. NPD employs LS-DYNA, a widely recognized dynamics code, for such analyses. Holtec’s SSI technology forms the licensing basis of numerous nuclear installations including Holtec supplied storage pads loaded with casks and the underground canister storage system known as HI-STORM UMAX.
- Reinforced Concrete Structures: Adept in melding ACI Codes with modern finite element methods, NPD’s analysts have established updated design bases for a large number of operating nuclear plants. The table below indicates the diverse nuclear plant structures qualified by the NPD analysts since the early 90s.
Technology Leaders
Holtec’s Nuclear Power Division (NPD) technology leaders undergird the cutting-edge expertise that typifies the caliber of analyses and services rendered by the Company. A short biographical synopsis of NPD’s technology leaders is provided below:
Dr. Kris Singh
President & Chief Executive Officer, Holtec International
Chairman of the Advisory Board, Holtec International
Chairman of the Board, Holtec Asia
Since 1986, Dr. Singh has led Holtec International, building the company into a technological powerhouse respected for its engineered goods and services around the world with nine major operations centers in three countries and an active business presence on four continents.
Dr. Stefan Anton
Senior Vice President, Engineering and Licensing, Holtec International
Dr. Stefan Anton has 30 years of experience in the design and licensing of structures, systems and components for the nuclear industry. His technical specialties are nuclear criticality, shielding and applied thermo-hydraulics. He has led design and licensing activities of nuclear components with a seminal contribution on burnup credit and criticality safety for spent fuel racks and spent fuel storage and transport casks.
Mr. John D. Griffiths
John D. Griffiths, PE, has over 28 years of experience in engineering design and manufacturing and over 13 years of experience in the nuclear industry. He also has extensive experience in manufacturing for specialty chemicals, semiconductors, metal processing, and pulp and paper. His nuclear experience includes the design of the patented Forced Gas Dehydration System customized for multiple international clients and the design of the patented Shielded Transfer Cask System used for wet fuel transfer at Indian Point Generating Station. He is named on four patents related to the nuclear industry.
Dr. Debu Mitra-Majumdar
Senior Director of Engineering, Holtec International
Dr. Majumdar received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University in 1997 and his Bachelor’s in Mechanical from Jadavpur University in India in 1989. Dr Majumdar is a leading thermal-hydraulicist in the field of gravity actuated flows and two phase flow regimes and is credited with introducing modern computational fluid dynamics techniques to the dry and wet storage industry in the United States in the 1990s. He is also an expert in the nuclear regulatory literature and has played an important role in the licensing of every Holtec dry storage system since 2000.
Dr. Kalyan K. Niyogi
Dr. Kalyan K. Niyogi has over 40 years of experience in the design, engineering and licensing of nuclear power plants. His technical specialties are in the area of thermal hydraulics analysis and life extension of nuclear plant systems and components. He has led the design, engineering and implementation of plant improvements for nuclear power plants. He has worked as a Project Manager and Technical Director for number of dry spent fuel storage projects. He has extensive experience in the design and licensing in international dry storage projects.
Dr. Alan Soler
Dr. Soler received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1959, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1958. Dr. Soler is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Dr Soler has published over 70 papers in the permanent literature, hundreds of industry reports, is the co-inventor of 3 patents, and is the co-author of the book “Mechanical Design of Heat Exchangers and Pressure Vessel Components.”
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