Kepco Nuclear Fuel (KNF) has developed a light-water reactor (LWR) fuel transport container that meets international requirements with domestic technology. The South Korean company said it has obtained a licence for the Pioneer G container from the country's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

The Pioneer G container design (Image: KNF)

KNF said the new Type A fuel transport container will be used to safely transport LWR fuel produced at its nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Daejeon to nuclear power plants around the world. Each transport container can hold two LWR fuel assemblies.

The container, which was developed in 2016 and completed in six years, passed various verification tests and evaluations - such as drop, fire and flooding - and was confirmed to satisfy all strict quality requirements in the USA.

KNF said the new design "has the advantage of further improving the safety of fuel in various types of accidents that may occur during transportation as it has improved impact resistance and heat resistance compared to the transportation container used for domestic transportation, developed in accordance with the existing domestic requirements."

"The most remarkable achievement is that the restrictions on the transportation of light-water reactor fuel are removed when entering the US and European nuclear power plant markets in the future with the development of a transport container that meets the international requirements," said said KNF CEO Choi Ik-soo.
"We plan to actively develop the nuclear fuel export market by actively responding to the increasingly stringent international regulatory requirements."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News