Westinghouse Electric Company said Wednesday it had signed a 10-year agreement to team up with Holtec International to provide “pool-to-pad services” to U.S. nuclear sites using Holtec's dry cask spent fuel storage technology.
Westinghouse said customers benefit from the team arrangement, which combines Westinghouse's “experience as the industry leader in dry storage canister welding … with Holtec as the original equipment manufacturer service provider."
The combination offers cross-qualified experienced crew members to meet the growing demand for dry storage resources, Westinghouse said.
“Dry cask storage is now a critical process in both operating and decommissioning nuclear plants,” said Westinghouse Americas President Mark Marano. “By combining Holtec’s OEM technical leadership and loading experience with Westinghouse’s long service history and industry leading cask welding experience, our customers will benefit from a strong team that will deliver safe, predictable loading services.”
“The safe storage of spent nuclear fuel is mission critical to our customers and to the power needs of our country. Without dry fuel storage freeing space for in-pool storage, nuclear plants would not be able to continue operations. This team will deliver the skill sets needed for error-free handling and dry cask storage of the nuclear industry’s spent fuel,” stated Steven Soler, director of Site Services for Holtec International.
Holtec’s senior vice president of Operations, PK Chaudhary, added, “Holtec’s arrangement with Westinghouse presents a suite of services that adds value to our clients’ investment in spent fuel dry cask storage with both superior performance and improved economics.”
Westinghouse, a group company of the Toshiba Corporation, has successfully welded more than 650 spent fuel canisters since 2002, now averaging over 100 canisters processed each year. Westinghouse’s global workforce includes highly skilled technical and craft personnel with significant dry cask experience and focus on safety, quality and delivering consistent results.
Holtec International specializies in spent nuclear fuel management technologies, having developed, licensed and fabricated the first underground spent storage facilities in the world.
Over 770 Holtec dry spent fuel storage systems are loaded in the U.S. and Spain, over 200 loaded by Holtec’s Site Services team.