Certified for compliance with Class ISS requirements for cask internals for the first time ever.
GNS has earned the "Certificate of Authorisation N3" from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) after successfully undergoing a rigorous survey. A team of about fifty GNS employees has been involved with the preparations for the audit in the eighteen months leading up to it. This certificate of authorization enables GNS, as one of only eleven companies worldwide, to design, test, fabricate, inspect and deliver "Class TC" transport casks and "Class SC" storage casks using the certification mark. GNS is the first company ever to have earned certification for compliance with Class ISS (Internal Support Structures) requirements for internals (such as baskets and quivers) in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC).
GNS having attained certification from ASME confirms that the quality management systems in place at GNS have helped effectively implement measures to meet the requirements set out in Section III (Construction of Nuclear Facility Components) pursuant to the ASME BPVC and the Quality Assurance Requirements for Nuclear Facility Applications (NQA-1). There are many countries where quality assurance requirements are based on the NQA-1 quality management system and in several Asian countries, such as Taiwan, Korea and Japan, this quality assurance system has been fully incorporated.
"While our German and numerous European customers have adopted a quality management system that complies with ISO 9001:2015, other international customers increasingly rely on rules and regulations that are based on US standards," explains Dr. Jens Schröder, Managing Director and CTO at GNS. "As an ASME N3-type certificate holder we are now in a position to further explore other international markets where this type of certified compliance enables us to meet the product requirements of new customers."