Constar

Several utilities have opted for dry storage of spent fuel to solve their near term needs. Virginia Power has recently demonstrated the feasibility of using metal casks at the Surry Facility. Carolina Power and Light has constructed and is performing initial tests on a horizontal vault (Nuhoms) facility at the H.B. Robinson plant. Larger Nuhoms facilities are planned for the Oconee site and the Calvert Cliffs facility. Thus, to date the available licensed technology has consisted of metal casks and vault systems. The vault systems, even though they involve building a structure, have proven to be less expensive because concrete is substantially less expensive than metal. Taking this one step further, another choice for dry storage would be a concrete cask. However, there are technical challenges to overcome for concrete to be used in a spent fuel cask application. The authors discuss how they are dealing with these issues in designing the Constar cask