Holtec contracted for dry storage at Taiwan plants

US-headquartered Holtec said it was awarded the contract for the four shut-down boiling water reactor (BWR) units following a "rigorous, transparent, and open public procurement process", bringing to 155 the number of reactors worldwide served by Holtec technologies. "This fleetwide BWR used fuel storage contract is possibly the largest in monetary value placed to date in the used fuel management sector of the nuclear industry," Holtec said.

The contract will see Holtec supply more than 150 multipurpose canister-based dry storage systems and associated equipment, as well as designing and constructing structurally hardened dry storage facilities at each of the two sites and providing commissioning services. The facilities will be licensed by Taiwan’s environmental and nuclear regulators, and the programme will be carried out in partnership with Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) "and certain highly respected Taiwanese engineering and construction firms", Holtec said. The company is also establishing Holtec Taiwan, and building a regional operation centre, it added.

Cooperation between Holtec and Taipower began more than 35 years ago, with Taipower's adoption of Holtec technology in the 1990s helping "to stimulate several of the innovations that today define Holtec’s global leadership in used fuel management", Holtec said.

"We celebrate the return of TPC's [Taipower's] four BWRs as valued clients after more than three decades of hiatus since our services to their BWR fleet began,” Holtec President of Global Opportunities Rick Springman said, adding that the renewed collaboration will generate "substantial direct and derivative value" for both Holtec and Taipower. "This contract represents an important opportunity to deepen our decades-old close relationship with TPC which has been grounded in mutual trust and a shared commitment to protecting the health and safety of the people of Taiwan", he said.

The BWRs at Chinshan and Kuosheng were four of six reactors connected to Taiwan's grid between 1977 and 1985, with initial expected operating lifetimes of 40 years each. But a phase-out policy passed into law after the 2016 election of the Democratic Progressive Party to government saw all Taiwan's operating power plants forced to shut down and enter decommissioning at the expiry of their 40-year licences. Chinshan 1 and 2 shut down in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Kuosheng 1 was shut in 2021 and Kuosheng 2 in 2023.

A 2018 referendum showed support for maintaining the island's significant nuclear power sector beyond 2025, and some of the shutdown plants are now being considered for a potential return to operations. A recent assessment by Taipower has found that the assessment determined that the two-unit Chinshan plant - Taiwan's oldest plant - is not feasible for reoperation, but the two units at Kuosheng, and two pressurised water reactors at Maanshan which were taken offline in July 2024 and in May this year, respectively, are feasible for reoperation.