Casks for the transport and storage of spent nuclear fuel
One of the key activities of ŠKODA JS is the production of fuel handling equipment.
Casks are used for the transport and dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. At ŠKODA JS, we produce casks of our own design, and we also produced casks in cooperation with the company GNS mbH Essen. ŠKODA JS produced the first cask in 1993.
Casks of GNS design and the licensed production of casks
Over the years, we have manufactured several types of casks based on the design by the German company GNS for various locations – the CASTOR®1000/19 cask with a body made of ductile cast iron for the Czech Temelín nuclear power plant, the CONSTOR® RBMK 1500 made of reinforced concrete for the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania, the CASTOR®HAW 20/28 CG cask for the storage of high level waste for German and Swiss nuclear power plant operators, and the CONSTOR®440/84 cask made of reinforced concrete, including a fuel basket of ŠKODA JS’s own design, for the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.
Under the license from the GNS Company, CASTOR®440/84 M casks with a body of ductile cast iron, including a fuel basket of ŠKODA JS’s own design, were produced for the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic.
Casks of our own design
Since 1998, we have also been producing and supplying casks of our own design. We have focused primarily on special-purpose casks, e.g., for fuel from research reactors, for the transport of radiation emitters, surveillance specimens of reactor pressure vessel steel and transport of emitters for medical purposes. We have designed a total of 15 such casks for Czech and Slovak nuclear units as well as for Czech, German and Swiss institutions. One of the significant projects was the design, production and delivery of a cask wagon for the Chernobyl NPP, which serves for the transport of spent fuel assemblies from the RBMK 1000 type reactor.
In 2018, we supplied the first ŠKODA 1000/19 spent nuclear fuel cask of our own design to the Temelín NPP. This cask was developed and produced entirely by ŠKODA JS. It is designed for the transport and long-term storage of VVER 1000 spent nuclear fuel. The inner basket has a capacity of 19 fuel assemblies. The cask weighs 119 tons and its height is over 5 meters. We are to supply 58 of these casks to the Temelín NPP by 2035.
In 2021, we supplied the first casks of our design ŠKODA 440/84 for Dukovany NPP. This cask was completely developed and manufactured by ŠKODA JS. It is designed for the transport and long-term storage of spent VVER 440 nuclear fuel. The inner basket has a capacity of 84 fuel cassettes. A total of 91 pieces will be delivered to the Dukovany NPP by 2048.
The history of our cooperation
1993 delivery of the first K1xIRTM cask of ŠKODA JS’s own design for research reactor fuel (Nuclear Research Institute Řež, Czechia)
1998delivery of the KSV 440 container of ŠKODA JS’s own design for surveillance specimens of reactor pressure vessel steel (Mochovce NPP, Slovakia)
2000a Type A cask for fresh nuclear fuel (Temelín NPP, Czechia)
2006 production of 2 pcs of PETA casks (ŠKODA JS’s own design) for the transport of emitters for medical purposes (Gamma Service Radeberg, Germany)
200616 VPVR/M transport casks of ŠKODA JS’s own design for research reactor fuel (Nuclear Research Institute Řež, Czechia)
2006VTUK cask for fuel transport (Ignalina NPP, Lithuania)
2008
TC1 cask – single-purpose transport cask for irradiated target filled with lead/bismuth eutectic (MEGAPIE project, Zwilag intermediate storage facility, Switzerland)
1995-2005
production of 60 CASTOR 440/84 casks for a customer of GNS (final client Dukovany NPP, Czechia)
1997-2002
production of 21 CASTOR 440/84 casks for a customer of GNS (EWN Greifswald, Germany)
2006-2017production of 39 CASTOR 440/84M casks for a customer of GNS (final client Dukovany NPP, Czechia)
2014-2015
production of eight CASTOR 1000/19 casks for a customer of GNS (final client Temelín NPP, Czechia)
2000-2005
production of 42 CASTOR HAW 20/28 CG casks (GNS, Germany)
2009-2010production of 34 CONSTOR 440/84 casks for a customer of GNS (final client Kozloduy NPP, Bulgaria)
1999-2010production of 98 CONSTOR RBMK 1500 casks for a customer of GNS (final client Ignalina NPP, Lithuania)
2011-2018
production of 41 CONSTOR RBMK 1500 M2 casks for a customer of GNS (final client Ignalina NPP, Lithuania)
2011KSV 440 cask of ŠKODA JS’s own design for specimens of reactor pressure vessel steel (Mochovce NPP, Units 3 and 4, Slovakia)
2016a cask wagon of ŠKODA JS’s own design (Chernobyl NPP, Ukraine)
2017delivery of one 300 TERA cask for the transport of irradiated specimens (ÚJV Řež, Czechia)
2018the first type ŠKODA 1000/19 cask of own design
2021the type ŠKODA 440/84 cask of own design
Interesting numbers
500casks of various types and for various purposes produced since 1993