Individual Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at Ascó Nuclear Power Plant

Spain

The construction of an Individual Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) was chosen as the best alternative for the storage of the spent fuel generated during the operation of the two units of Ascó Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The ISFSI was constructed to store the spent fuel generated in the NPP, destined for the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility of Villar the Cañar in the future, to allow the extension of operation of Ascó NPP due to the lack of capacity in the fuel storage pools.

The ISFSI consists of an outdoors facility accounting for two seismic concrete slabs for up to 16 dry storage casks each, a transfer pit, an auxiliary building for the transportation crane, and safety and radiological protection fences.

IDOM was responsible for the management of the installation works on site and this has contributed to the development of the design for the ISFSI at SMª Garoña NPP. All the required documentation was prepared by IDOM associated with the Design Change Package and the as-built project. The civil works which were categorized as Seismic Category I such as storage slabs, the transfer pit and the shielding concrete of the storage casks required a rigorous compliance with the current standards regarding the quality of the materials and execution control. This works were performed within a very specific geotechnical environment and severe weather conditions.

During the initial phase of earthworks, the base of the excavation reached an elevation of 105 m above sea level which was the level where the tertiary substrate was located according to the original project.

Before stating the main project, IDOM conducted a geotechnical study complying with American Nuclear Standards and the recommendations provided by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) in order to verify the geology of the base of the excavation and the cartographic features of the site.

Back End : Spent Nuclear Fuel