Used nuclear fuel storage specialist NAC International said this week it had secured a certificate of compliance from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its MAGNATRAN transport cask.
The April 5 licensing approval enables the Georgia company to use the cask for transport of its MAGNASTOR spent fuel dry-storage canisters. “Although there are no existing contracts for the delivery of this new cask, NAC is actively marketing this new model to potential new customers,” the company said in response to questions from Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
MAGNASTOR is used for storage of spent fuel at four U.S. nuclear power plants: the McGuire Nuclear Station in North Carolina and Catawba Nuclear Station in South Carolina, both owned by Duke Energy; the nearly decommissioned Zion Nuclear Power Station in Illinois, owned by Exelon; and Dominion Energy’s retired Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin. It is also expected to be deployed to the Palo Verde plant in Arizona and the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania, along with Taiwan’s Kuosheng power plant.
For shipment to an off-site location, a gantry crane would transfer the MAGNASTOR canisters from their on-site concrete overpacks to the MAGNATRAN transport cask, and then place the cask on a railcar for transport.
Federal law requires the Department of Energy to remove spent fuel from U.S. power plants for disposal – though the deadline to begin passed on Jan. 31, 1998.
NAC is working with an Orano-Waste Control Specialists joint venture, Interim Storage Partners, on a planned facility in West Texas for consolidated interim storage of spent fuel until a permanent repository is ready. If the facility receives necessary licensing from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it would become a temporary home to the MAGNASTOR canisters.
The cask could be used for transport of other low-level waste types, NAC said.
