We are pleased to announce that Holtec has been awarded a contract for supply of the HI-STAR 100 dual-purpose metal casks for Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in South Africa. The contract between Eskom and Holtec was signed in May 2015, following a rigorous international bidding competition that lasted for over a year. Holtec will be supplying our proven HI-STAR 100 dual-purpose metal cask, designed for storage and transportation of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent fuel assemblies. The HI-STAR 100 was first licensed for storage under 10CFR72 regulations in the United States in 1999, and for transport according to 10CFR71/TS-R-1 in 2000. In addition to the U.S. sites currently deploying the HI-STAR 100, Holtec has also licensed and supplied the HI-STAR 100 for the Spanish nuclear fleet where they will be put into service to transport fuel from the reactor-side storage facilities, to the central storage facility, currently under development by ENRESA.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in South Africa; Photo by Bjorn Rudner

The contract scope of work also includes design and supply of the necessary handling equipment for the project, licensing support, training, and cask loading services. The scope of work will be completed on an agreed tight schedule, to support the continued operation of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (Unit 1 and 2), with most of the work to be completed prior to the March/September 2018 planned outages. Despite the tight schedule, Holtec is committed to play its part in terms of supplier development and localization in support of the project.

Holtec’s Director of International Projects, Dr. Rick Springman, stated, “We understand the critical importance for Eskom of ensuring continued operation of the Koeberg units through 2018 and our vertically-integrated supply chain, which includes our proven Holtec Manufacturing Division (HMD), will be pivotal in supporting the compressed project schedule. We look forward to working with Eskom’s capable project team and the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) to ensure that the casks are loaded on schedule.”

Eskom and Holtec Project Teams

From left to right: Alan Lawrence (Eskom); Haaroen Sataar (Eskom); Steve Wright (Holtec); Debu Majumdar (Holtec); Kelebohile Makhothe (Eskom); Tayeb Jappie (Eskom); Sheilah Brown (Eskom); Rick Springman (Holtec); Luren Chetty (Eskom)