The First Commercial Spent Fuel Shipment in China

In two and a half years, government regulatory agencies and contractors from three countries worked together to design, license, fabricate, and transport the first commercial spent fuel shipment in China. Their cooperative efforts helped avoid the loss of full core reserve at a nuclear power plant serving two of China’s largest cities. In March 2001, Everclean Environmental Engineering Corporation (EEEC) selected NAC International (NAC) to supply two United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) licensed Storable Transport Casks (NACSTC) and technology support, to ensure that qualified Chinese operators would be ready to load the first cask in late 2003. EEEC is a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which sets nuclear policy in China. EEEC is responsible for implementing nuclear transportation policy set forth from its parent corporation. Timely implementation of EEEC’s ambitious plan would avoid loss of full core reserve at Guangdong Nuclear Power Station (Daya Bay) Unit-1, which supplies power to Hong Kong and Schenzen. The spent fuel would be transported to the Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex (LNFC), a reprocessing facility, approximately 4,000 kilometers Northwest of Daya Bay.