The company selected to manage Diablo Canyon Power Station’s spent fuel inventory fired back this week at claims from a competitor that its cask system was unsafe and untested.
Orano USA, whose subsidiary TN Americas on April 6 locked down the spent fuel contract with plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), was “surprised” at what it called “scathing misinformation and misdirection” from Holtec International, the company wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Holtec April 6 penned a letter to PG&E calling its decision “preposterous and reprehensible” and arguing that Orano’s cask design had not been properly demonstrated and licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“In our industry, meeting the unique needs of our customers means that supplier companies are sometimes partners and sometimes competitors, but rarely contentious,” Orano wrote Wednesday. PG&E selected the company’s cask “as a licensed system with existing enhanced seismic resilience and thermal … dissipation,” the op-ed said.
Although Orano has applied for a license amendment with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that includes more information about how its cask system would handle Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel inventory, that amendment process “affects the schedule — not the already robust licensed capabilities of our system,” the company said.
“We applaud the diligent effort and thorough technical evaluation by PG&E during the competitive bid process for the Diablo Canyon pool offload,” Orano said.
Meanwhile, Holtec said April 6 that it would consider contesting PG&E’s award. A spokesperson for the company declined this week to comment further on the matter.
Diablo Canyon, located in San Luis Obispo, Calif., is the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant. PG&E has said that the plant’s two reactors should go offline in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
