NAC International provides licensed transport and dual-purpose storage/transport systems for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) applications, as well as loading and transportation services for SNF and other materials using our fleet of transport casks. The company also provides specialised consulting services for all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle.
NAC has a long-term commitment to the nuclear power industry by providing its spent fuel storage and transport systems, together with the associated ancillary and complementary systems and services.
Licensed cask systems for storage and transport of used fuel
NAC has extensive design, engineering, and fabrication oversight experience, with the delivery of more than 500 spent fuel storage systems, as well as legal-weight truck and SNF dual-purpose casks. All work is conducted in accordance with NAC’s quality programme at approved locations in the US, Japan, and Spain.
NAC has a total of 11 systems licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under US laws 10CFR71 (transportation) and 10CFR72 (storage) for either storage, transportation, or storage and shipment of SNF and other nuclear materials.
The company has designed and delivered three leading canister-based transportable storage cask system designs for varied types of used fuel, which includes a total of more than 500 units for commercial spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear materials in the US and other countries. At each site where NAC systems are used, the company provided facility engineering, radioactive material handling and transport, as well as site operations expertise.
The earliest of these designs, NAC-STC, is the first high-capacity, directly loaded, dual-purpose system licensed for both storage and transportation of standard SNF. The corresponding storage unit is the first multi-purpose, canister-based cask system approved by the NRC (NAC-MPC).
The NAC-MPC canister is also approved for storage of greater than class C (GTCC) waste and was used for this purpose at nuclear power plants (NPP) in the US. The internal basket design has been modified and approved for long-term storage of unique waste forms at various US Department of Energy (DOE) sites, including Hanford and the West Valley Demonstration Project.
NAC-UMS’s design was developed to accommodate longer-length SNF, and was selected for use at US and Taiwan NPPs.
NAC’s MAGNASTOR® system made major improvements in SNF capacity (increased by more than 50%), material strength, and loading efficiencies, while maintaining the same footprint as the NAC-UMS.
Three NPPs have transitioned from the UMS to MAGNASTOR. The MAGNASTOR is also used at the shutdown Zion NPP and Kewaunee NPP, where NAC was responsible for loading and transferring all SNF to the site’s independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) in record time.
Spent fuel transportation solutions for the global nuclear industry
NAC has carried out numerous transportation projects using its own fleet of licensed casks for nuclear utilities, commercial companies, the US Department of Energy (DOE), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and other government agencies. The company has obtained more than 160 NRC-approved licences or licence amendments for its transport system designs, as well as numerous worldwide licence certificates and validations.
Around 3,700 cask shipments loaded with spent fuel or high-activity waste have been safely completed by NAC. The company’s fleet of transport casks has been used at more than 70 worldwide nuclear facilities and logged around seven million cask miles. NAC has managed SNF handling, wet and dry loading scope, transport, and unloading at challenging sites, including in North Korea, Iraq, Russia, Greece, Portugal, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, Canada, and Taiwan.
In addition to supplying casks, NAC performs other services required for transporting SNF and other nuclear materials such as assessing transport routes and obtaining route approval, preparing transportation and security plants, notifying relevant regulators, booking the carrier, supervising loading operations, and other support services.
Specialised consulting services for fuel cycle experts
NAC has more than 50 years of experience in providing specialised insights on topics such as pricing trends, market regulations, technical and quality oversight to nuclear utilities, government agencies, fuel vendors, investors, and financial institutions.
Our consulting services are informed by the team’s extensive industry background, technical experience and NAC’s exclusive data-driven market research. NAC consulting experts are knowledgeable in all segments of the nuclear fuel industry. Their perspectives are unbiased and provide excellent input for the most demanding consulting assignments in the nuclear sector.
NAC also provides nuclear material control and accountability (MC&A) services and products to support governments’ and companies’ materials control management and security. Utilities around the world are using NAC’s MC&A systems.
About NAC International
NAC International was established in 1968 and supports more than 200 international customers in the global nuclear industry with proven, reliable fuel cycle solutions and expertise.
The company is owned by Hitz Holdings USA, a Delaware corporation based in New York, US. Delaware is a subsidiary of Hitachi Zosen Corporation.
