Doosan Energility has won a contract to develop a cask, a container for transporting and storing spent nuclear fuel, using localized technology.
Doosan Energility announced on Nov. 2 that it has signed a contract with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to provide comprehensive design services for a dry storage system for spent nuclear fuel.
Under the contract, which was awarded through an international competitive bidding process, Doosan Enerbility will complete the design of the dry storage system, including the cask, a container for transporting and storing spent nuclear fuel, and obtain licenses by 2027.
Spent nuclear fuel, which is discharged after being used as raw material in a nuclear power plant, is cooled in a wet storage system inside a water-filled tank for the first five years, and then stored in a dry storage system outside the tank. The casks used in this process require special design and advanced manufacturing technology to safely manage radiation and heat.
The NPP industry estimates that about 2,800 casks will be needed for dry storage and interim storage facilities in Korea by 2060, making the related market size about 8.4 trillion won.
Doosan Enerbility plans to work with about 140 small and medium-sized suppliers by region and process to revitalize the domestic nuclear power industry ecosystem when winning future fabrication projects.
"This contract is significant in that it is a localized cask model and lays the foundation for a domestic standardized spent nuclear fuel transportation and storage vessel that will be ordered for trillions of won in the future," said Kim Jong-doo, BG of Doosan Enerbility.
