Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Before RadWaste Monitor begins its two-week hiatus, here are some other stories from across the civilian nuclear power space we were tracking this week.
Indian utility orders first spent fuel casks from Holtec
Holtec International last week announced that India’s only nuclear plant operator is buying spent fuel storage racks from the company for the country’s largest nuclear facility, according to a press release.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), which operates the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the country’s south, ordered Holtec-designed spent fuel and damaged fuel storage racks for the site’s new away-from-reactor wet storage facility, the company said in a statement dated Aug. 3.
The wet storage facility will accept spent fuel from both of Kudankulam’s Russian-built VVER 1000 reactors, Holtec said. The spent fuel racks for the project, which utilize a honeycomb design to protect spent fuel rods from earthquakes and other seismic activity, will be manufactured at the company’s Ohio factory and assembled in India at a factory owned by Holtec’s Asia division.
“We hail this fuel rack project as our humble contribution to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, while promoting bilateral trade between the U.S. and India, with each country benefiting from significant white collar and green collar jobs spawned by this project,” Jyoti Chatterjee, president of Holtec Asia, said in the statement.
This isn’t Holtec’s first job at Kudankulam. The company in 2021 secured a contract with NPCIL to build spent fuel transport casks at the plant.
Deep Isolation, Amentum sign agreement to commercialize borehole tech
Engineering services company Amentum and Deep Isolation have entered into a knowledge-sharing agreement to advance nuclear waste storage solutions globally, according to a press release published this week.
The memorandum of understanding between the companies “provides Amentum access to more than 50 protected Deep Isolation inventions, as well as engineering specifications and know-how,” Tuesday’s press release said.
Berkeley, Calif.-based Deep Isolation is working on a nuclear waste storage concept that would see spent fuel stored in borehole tunnels deep underground. The company offers licenses to potential industry partners allowing them access to its intellectual property and other proprietary information with the aim of expanding borehole technology.
Under this new cooperation agreement, Amentum and Deep Isolation plan to market the company’s borehole repository concept in countries in Europe and the Pacific, the release said, which represent “a combined addressable market for geologic disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste worth more than $30 billion.”
“The world is changing fast, and it’s imperative for the success of nuclear energy that we solve the nuclear waste challenge,” Deep Isolation CEO Elizabeth Muller said in a statement. “Deploying the solution requires a large-scale team effort.”
Terrestrial Energy to develop advanced reactors in western Canada
Advanced nuclear company Terrestrial Energy this week signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Alberta, Canada, to explore deployment of its small modular reactor technology in the region, according to a press release.
Under the agreement, Terrestrial Energy will work with Alberta’s high-value investments management corporation “on federal and provincial policies, and industrial incentives supporting transformative energy innovation in the province,” the company said in Thursday’s statement. Terrestrial Energy is interested in using its Integral Molten Salt Reactor design to provide heat and power for industrial activities in Alberta such as oil and gas production and petrochemical manufacturing.
Terrestrial Energy CEO Simon Irish said in a statement that the memorandum of understanding “provides a clear pathway for Alberta industry to achieve net zero, and develop production capabilities for industrial leadership in a net-zero energy economy of the future.”
“We are encouraged by the Government of Alberta’s support for the sector and are attracted to Alberta because of the province’s continued policies supporting industrial innovation and economic growth,” Irish said.
Terrestrial Energy plans to use its molten salt reactor design for both grid power as well as a support for energy-intensive industrial activities such as natural resource extraction and hydrogen and ammonia production.
