Ukraine's Turboatom to produce Holtec casks

The technology for the production of dry storage casks for used nuclear fuel will be transferred by Holtec International to Ukraine's Turboatom under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies and Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator EnergoAtom.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in Brussels on 28 October by EnergoAtom president Yuriy Nedashkovskyi, Turboatom general director Victor Subbotin and Holtec International CEO Kris Singh.

In a statement, EnergoAtom said the MOU defines the scope and terms of collaboration between the partners in the construction of Ukraine's central used fuel storage facility (CSFSF). It acknowledges the transfer of technologies for the manufacture of Holtec's HI-STORM used fuel storage casks to Turboatom.

The projected cost of Turboatom's services to Holtec could reach $200 million over the next ten years, including some $60 million for equipment for the CSFSF, EnergoAtom said. It noted that Holtec and Turboatom plan to sign a commercial contract for the project by January 2016.

US-based Holtec signed the contract it won in a tender to build the CSFSF in 2005. Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in 2012 adopted a law on the siting, design and construction of the facility to store used fuel from Ukraine's Russian-built VVER nuclear power reactors.

In January, Energoatom and Holtec signed an amendment to the contract to build the CSFSF at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and supply used nuclear fuel dry cask storage systems. The CSFSF will receive used nuclear fuel from nine of the country's 15 reactors - seven VVER-1000s and two VVER-440s - located at Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnitsky. The Zaporozhe nuclear power plant operates its own on-site used fuel storage facility that was commissioned in 2001.

The amendment means that Energoatom is responsible for the civil design and construction of the facility, while Holtec is responsible for the design and supply of used nuclear fuel dry storage, transport and related equipment. The equipment will be delivered by the end of 2020, with the "key developmental stage" set as 2015-2017. During this period, the design and construction of the storage facility will be completed, Holtec's equipment and technology will be installed and the CSFSF will be commissioned. Holtec will supply 94 used nuclear fuel storage systems for the facility.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News