Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
12/4/2015
The first 10 canisters for dry interim nuclear fuel storage have been delivered to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, State Specialised Enterprise ChNPP announced Thursday.
As part of a 2007 agreement signed between Ukraine and U.S.-based Holtec International, the double-walled canisters are projected to store all spent fuel from Chernobyl’s RMBK-1000 reactors on-site for at least 100 years. The first 10 canisters are expected to meet fuel demand for five months, according to a ChNPP press release. The second batch of double-walled canisters is scheduled for shipment in January. By the end of phase 1 of the contract, the site will house a total of 85 canisters, the press release states. The remaining canisters, which will bring the total to 231, are expected for delivery between 2017 and 2019.
Holtec Launches Decommissioning Team
On Monday Holtec International announced the formation of a reactor decommissioning team, consisting of 16 North American nuclear contractors.
Team Holtec, LLC, established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Holtec International, will encompass: Atkins with Faithful and Gould, Beckman & Associates, Inc., Black & Veatch, CN Associates, DP Engineering Ltd. Co., High Bridge Associates, Inc., GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Holtec International, Manafort Brothers, Inc., Northwest Demolition & Dismantling, Radiation Safety & Control Services, Sarens Group, Sargent & Lundy, Saulsbury Industries, Canada’s SNC-Lavalin, UTC-Edlow Nuclear Logistics, Inc., and Wachs Services. Holtec has named its Senior Vice President Pierre Oneid as executive in charge of Team Holtec, LLC.
Holtec is boasting its deployment of HI-STORM UMAX, a dry spent fuel storage system the company says enables the off-loading and storage of spent fuel after only three years of cooling in the pool. The HI-STORM UMAX system is a major component for the consolidated interim storage facility Holtec is developing in New Mexico. Holtec has joined forces with Eddy Lea Energy Alliance, LLC, for the underground storage facility planned in southeast New Mexico’s high desert.
