Orano TN has completed the transfer and storage of used fuel to a canister with a higher than usual heat load using its Extended Optimised Storage (EOS) dry storage system.
The use of EOS, which is licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for heat loads of up to 50kW per canister, allows used nuclear fuel to be transferred to dry storage after a shorter period in the wet storage pool.
Orano TN transferred 296 used fuel assemblies from a US reactor’s wet storage pool to the onsite Independent Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISFSI), during its final loading campaign of 2019.
The campaign used eight NUHOMS EOS 37PTH canisters to store the used fuel in eight NUHOMS EOS Horizontal Storage Modules (HSM).
Orano said its EOS system, averaging a total heat load per EOS canister of 44.75kW, is the first dry storage system to load/store used fuel with heat loads well above industry experience to date (14-34kW per canister).
The canisters were designed by Orano TN and manufactured at Orano’s TNF site in Kernersville, North Carolina. They are engineered to store 37 pressurised water reactor (PWR) high burnup fuel assemblies. The canisters have the highest total heat load, and the highest heat load per used fuel assembly of any system in the industry, Orano says.
The EOS Horizontal Storage Modules were manufactured by Orano’s precast concrete facility in Moyock, North Carolina.
“The EOS system allows a shutdown site to accelerate the transfer of used fuel from the pool to the ISFSI, enabling the site to shorten its transition period and accelerate updates to the facility’s emergency response plan,” Orano noted.
The new EOS system uses the same simple, and stable horizontal used fuel loading process as Orano’s NUHOMS technology.
Another industry record was set during Orano's latest campaign when the final two EOS canisters were loaded in a record seven days.
“The 3.5-day cycle per canister is an industry first,” Orano noted.
“This new record bests Orano’s industry-leading four-day average for a canister loading cycle."
Photo: Orano's Extended Optimised Storage (EOS) dry storage system
