We are pleased to announce that, under our contract with Synatom, the first of Holtec’s large capacity casks, HI-STAR 180D which are designated for dual purpose service (storage and transport) has been successfully loaded at Engie Electrabel’s (Belgium) Doel nuclear site. This cask was licensed for transport by the USNRC in 2014 and by the Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) in 2021. The final approval for on-site storage was granted by another Belgian authority (abbreviated as BelV) in 2024. The design metrics of the HI-STAR 180D casks is best characterized by industry-leading heat rejection and dose attenuation capacity.
The deployment of HI-STAR 180D casks in Belgium marks the second Holtec dual-purpose storage and transportation cask loaded in Western Europe. The first deployment (using HI-STAR 150) occurred in Spain four years ago under ENRESA’s aegis. The Spanish fleet now has 15 HI-STAR 150 dual purpose casks in the country and two more in manufacturing. Several innovative technologies introduced in the HI-STAR 150 program have since been adopted in other Holtec cask models including the medium capacity HI-STAR 100MB and the high-capacity HI-STAR 190 models making our Spanish cask the pacesetter for Holtec’s latest design embodiments that minimize dose and maximize thermal output. A large fleet of HI-STAR 180Ds, some in transit to Belgium and many in the pipeline will follow in this year.
The Holtec Manufacturing Division in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the designated manufacturer of the HI-STAR 180D casks. The entire complement of ancillaries including a custom engineered AL-STAR impact limiter set has been manufactured and acceptance-tested. The acceptance of the first cask required a physical demonstration of its heat rejection capacity which showed ample margins in the as-designed and as-fabricated hardware. Following delivery, a series of dry-run exercises on the as-built cask were carried out at the Doel site to ensure the equipment and associated ancillaries met all operational requirements prescribed by the Regulator.
“The loading of this first-of-a-kind HI-STAR 180D is an important milestone for the preparation of the upcoming unloading of Doel 1 and 2 spent fuel ponds after their final shutdown this year, the fruit of the perseverance of the US and Belgian teams in this long-lasting endeavour,” says Mr. Luc Janssen, Manager of Back End Fuel Cycle, Synatom, Belgium.
“The successful deployment of the HI-STAR 180D cask system underscores Holtec’s commitment to providing innovative, safe, and reliable solutions for used nuclear fuel management to our clients around the world. With a diverse portfolio of licensed cask solutions for our clients, we continue to provide technical leadership to the nuclear industry in the back end of the fuel cycle. We are especially grateful to our client, Synatom, for being a supportive but constructively critical client that has helped our cask program in multiple ways,” says Mr. PK Chaudhary, Holtec’s President of Corporate Projects, Manufacturing & Supply Chain.
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