Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/28/2014
Robatel Technologies received a Certificate of Compliance from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week that enables its Type-B shipping cask design to begin transporting waste. Waste Control Specialists contracted with Robatel to provide three Type B casks capable of shipping Class B and C low-level radioactive waste. The first of the three casks was delivered in January, while the other two are expected to be delivered sometime in the coming months. “Robatel Technologies has been registered as a user of the package under the general license provisions of 10.CFR.71.17,” said Michele Sampson, Licensing Branch Chief in the Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation in the NRC Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. “The approval constitutes authority to use the package for shipment of radioactive material and for the package to be shipped in accordance with the provisions of 49 CFR 173.471.”
From Robatel’s perspective, this COC contributes to its validation as a company that can deliver, Robatel CEO Teo Grochowski told RW Monitor. “For Robatel as a company, it both validates us and establishes us as a competitive player in the U.S. market,” Grochowski said. “It signals a very positive future.” Grochowski also said the WCS contract was the first “seal of approval” that Robatel felt initially validated the company, causing the phone to ring more than it had before. “This probably is the first time ever, if not the first, one of very few, where a cask of this magnitude, both physically the cask itself as well as its relevance to the industry, has been done, designed, licensed, fabricated, and delivered in less than two years, and that speaks volumes to the entire team of everyone contributing as well as Robatel’s credentials to deliver,” Grochowski said.
Robatel’s COC also enables WCS to begin using the casks for transporting waste. “This is a very significant development,” WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said. “With this certificate, we are now already lining up orders now for shipment. It’s hard to overstate how important this is for the industry and public health and safety since this is the fifth Type-B transportation cask in service in the United State. When our other two come on line, which will be in mid-April that we will get the next one—it’s in route—and then we will get another on in mid-May, we will have our whole fleet in place so we’ll have three brand new casks that are state-of-the-art,” he said.
