Holtec International late last week withdrew some sharp criticism it made against the company selected to provide spent-fuel management services at a California nuclear power plant, framing its comments as a heat-of-the-moment reaction.
Comments directed at Orano USA in an April 6 letter “reflected an emotional response in the immediate wake of the disappointing news,” Pierre Oneid, Holtec’s senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, told Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Friday.
At the request of its executive board, Holtec withdrew “each of the complaints and assertions made in that letter including assertions about inadequacies” in PG&E’s decision to select Orano for a spent fuel management contract at Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
Oneid also walked back his previous claim that Holtec would appeal PG&E’s decision.
“We recognize our decades of close working relationship and numerous transactions with PG&E and our ongoing obligations that remain to serve Diablo Canyon including management support of the existing dry storage systems,” Oneid said.
In the April 6 letter, Oneid accused PG&E of conducting a poor bid selection process for the spent fuel contract “with little regard” for the work Holtec has already done at Diablo Canyon. The company has been handling the San Luis Obispo County, Calif., plant’s spent fuel inventory since 2000.
Oneid also said that Orano’s spent fuel cask design was “first-of-a-kind” and that it would require additional safety reviews by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — claims that Orano called “misinformation” in an op-ed for the local San Luis Obispo Tribune.
PG&E awarded Orano the spent fuel management contract on April 6. Under the agreement, company subsidiary TN Americas would begin defueling Diablo Canyon once both of its reactors have gone dark.
Diablo Canyon is California’s last operating nuclear power plant. PG&E has said that the site’s two reactors would go offline in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
