Matt Stroud reports that Westinghouse Electric Co. is known for building nuclear reactors, but now the company is teaming with a well-established company that can help the company do a better job of shutting them down. Westinghouse announced a teaming agreement with Holtec International to provide systems for safely storing spent nuclear fuel.
In the nuclear process, solid ceramic pellets of uranium fuel are placed into a reactor and bombarded with neutrons. This causes a chain reaction - fission - that heats water, creates steam, and spins turbines to create electricity. The uranium in the reactor is usable for about 18 months. After that, it becomes spent fuel. It is no longer useful in a reactor - and thus termed nuclear waste - but it is still highly radioactive. Which poses a bit of a problem. Where to put the waste, like other contaminated waste from industry.
For about 5 years after its useful life in the reactor, spent fuel is typically kept on site at the nuclear generation facility in pools of water. After that period, the radioactivity of the uranium has declined sufficiently so that the material can be stored in concrete boxes. This is known as dry-cask storage - an integral part of the process, especially for nuclear reactors that are being decommissioned.
Holtec specializes in dry-cask storage. With Westinghouse getting deeper into the decommissioning business, this partnership makes a lot of sense. Dry-cask storage is now a critical process in both operating and decommissioning nuclear plants, said Westinghouse Americas President Mark Marano.
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Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-