Holtec launches new heavy load transporter

08 June 2020

The first HI-TRAN 300 transporter has been successfully manufactured and factory tested by Holtec International's Advanced Manufacturing Division in Camden, New Jersey. With a rated lift capacity of 300 tons, the transporter is intended for moving used fuel casks as well as heavy loads at Holtec's SMR-160 plant.

An artist's rendering of the HI-TRAN 300 (Image: Holtec)

The transporter is a vertical heavy load hauler designed by Holtec's Nuclear Power Division (NPD) to serve as the single-failure-proof workhorse for hauling loaded Holtec dry used fuel storage system components and for executing inter-cask canister transfers. The HI-TRAN 300 is also envisioned to transport heavy loads at Holtec's SMR-160 plant currently undergoing regulatory review in Canada and the HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility being developed by Holtec in New Mexico.

Holtec said it developed HI-TRAN "to solve the transporter reliability problems procured from third parties that occasionally have plagued some dry store campaigns in the industry". It noted that HI-TRAN is built as a "safety-significant machine and has certain unique reliability features that differentiate it from other machines sold in the industry".

HI-TRAN 300 - weighing 121 tonnes - moves on two parallel caterpillars to minimise ground pressure and has zero turn radius. It features four hydraulic lifters and has a rated lift capacity of 300 tonnes, which is sufficient to haul the heaviest loaded cask supplied by Holtec.

Holtec said the successful development and deployment of HI-TRAN 300 completes its programme of redesign of key ancillary devices to improve their operational reliability. The transporter, it said, also eliminates reliance on subcontractors during cask loading campaigns.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News