Orano TN, the Orano subsidiary providing used fuel management and transportation services, has been selected by Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Company (WCNOC) to design, build and implement dry fuel storage at the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Kansas, the company said on August 2.
Along with developing the site’s first Interim Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), Orano will conduct pool-to-pad services to transfer the used nuclear fuel from the reactor’s storage pool to the new onsite NUHOMS® dry storage systems. The installation and initial transfer is expected to be completed by 2021.
The installation will combine use of Orano's NUHOMS MATRIX horizontal storage modules, which save space — up to 45 percent of storage pad space — required to store the same amount of used nuclear fuel canisters — and NUHOMS Extended Optimized Storage canisters, which are "high-capacity, dry shielded canisters" each designed to store up to 37 fuel assemblies each.
The system, according to Orano, allows for maximum amounts of used fuel sealed in each storage module and limits the number of needed transfers from the reactor pool to the ISFSI.
Orano TN’s NUHOMS systems have securely stored used nuclear fuel in the United States for more than two decades, with installations at 33 sites around the country representing more than 45,000 stored used fuel assemblies.