US-based Holtec International has reported that Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has placed its first order for used fuel and damaged fuel storage racks for its new away-from-reactor wet storage facility for the Kudankulam NPP (KKNPP) from Holtec subsidiary Holtec Asia. The away-from-reactor facility will serve units 1 and 2 of KKNPP in the state of Tamil Nadu. KKNPP uses Russian-designed VVER 1000 reactors.
The high-density fuel racks are of the honeycomb genre and will use Holtec’s Metamic neutron absorbing material, which is the most widely employed neutron absorber in the nuclear worldwide. The rack modules utilise Holtec’s proprietary detuned honeycomb technology to minimise the modules kinematic response to earthquakes and to maintain a large sub-criticality margin under all postulated accident events, Holtec said.
The KKNPP honeycomb rack modules will be manufactured in India with Metamic plates to be supplied by Holtec’s Orrvilon Manufacturing Division, based in Ohio. An NPCIL-approved supplier of nuclear components will collaborate with Holtec Asia’s Dahej, Gujarat-based manufacturing plant to assemble the rack modules. Holtec Asia’s Pune, Maharashtra-based engineering and design centre will administer and coordinate the project with NPCIL in Mumbai.
Image: Units 1 & 2 of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant (courtesy of Holtec)
