GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH is one of the most experienced developers and manufacturers of nuclear casks and containers for spent fuel, high-level waste (HLW), intermediate-level waste (ILW), and low-level waste (LLW) worldwide.

Today, more than 1,800 spent fuel / HLW casks of the CASTOR® and CONSTOR® type and approximately 8,000 MOSAIK® casks and GNS Yellow Boxes® for ILW are in use in a number of countries at four continents.

Furthermore, GNS offers waste management services in the nuclear sector, which cover all phases of operations and decommissioning.

Spent fuel casks

GNS is known for its transport and interim storage casks CASTOR® and CONSTOR®. Worldwide, more than 1,800 of these GNS casks for irradiated fuel elements and high-level radioactive waste have been loaded and are stored in interim storage facilities.

CASTOR geo - modular cask system for spent fuel.

CASTOR underwater loading.

Cask manufacturing at GNS Mülheim plant.

FAKIR hydraulic supercompactor.

PETRA drying facility.

MOSAIK - cask for transport and storage of ILW.

GNS Yellow Box - container for transport, interim storage, and final disposal.

Repatriation transport from the UK to Germany.

Dismantling of a steam generator.

GNS headquarters in Essen, Germany.

The casks are manufactured at a GNS’s production site in Germany. For more than 40 years, GNS has been continuously developing various series of CASTOR® and CONSTOR® casks.

Modular solutions for HLW

To fulfil the diverse needs for spent fuel management, GNS offers the CASTOR® geo series as a modular cask system for irradiated PWR and BWR fuel elements. The CASTOR® geo includes all well-established safety features of the existing CASTOR® systems while it can also accommodate a significantly higher number of spent-fuel assemblies per cask.

For the disposal of damaged fuel rods from PWR and BWR, GNS has developed the GNS IQ Integrated Quiver System. The Quiver fits into the standard basket positions of the transport and storage casks for PWR and BWR fuel assemblies.

For the defueling of dated nuclear power plants (NPPs) with small lifting capacities, GNS offers the Cask Loading Unit (CLU), a canister-based system for internal transfer.

Cask loading

At all German nuclear power plants, the CASTOR® casks are loaded and prepared for interim storage by GNS’s dispatching teams. This service is unique worldwide. GNS also offers training courses on cask loading.

Waste repatriation

For German nuclear power plant operators, GNS prepares and carries out the return of German reprocessing waste from the UK and France to German interim storage facilities. For this purpose, casks of the CASTOR® type are used too. 

Containers and procedures for all types of waste

Whether recycling or conditioning, GNS treats all types of low and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Stationary and mobile, predominately in-house developed equipment is used. Proven conditioning processes ensure that the waste is suitable to be packed for interim storage and final disposal.

For packaging, GNS offers various container types for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste such as MOSAIK®, Cladded Concrete Shielding, GNS Yellow Box®, SBoX®, and Steel Sheet Containers.

For recycling, GNS cooperates with melting plants in Germany, Sweden, and the US. We offer complete service packages for the disposal path.

Defueling, dismantling and packaging

GNS offers solutions for all phases of decommissioning, from defueling to dismantling and packaging of RPVs, their internals, and other primary circuit components. Experienced activation calculations enable efficient cutting and packaging, as well as minimum dose rates.

Integrated Management System 

High safety standards for products and services are essential in the nuclear sector.

GNS maintains an effective Integrated Management System (IMS). It includes the aspects of radiation protection and safety culture, as well as quality, environmental protection, occupational health and safety, and economic efficiency.

The specifications of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the requirements of ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental protection), OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety management), and KTA 1401 are of great importance.

In 2019, GNS was certified according to ASME N3 and has a worldwide first-class ISS certification for cask internals.

Software products 

The GNS software family comprises a variety of applications. Some of them have been used in Germany for more than 30 years.

The central GNS software application is the comprehensive waste tracking and documentation system AVK, which is used in all German nuclear power plants for LLW / ILW. In AVK, radioactive waste is recorded and its origin, condition, treatment, packaging, change of location, interim storage, and whereabouts are fully documented until it is handed over to a final repository.

GNS subsidiaries

The companies Höfer& Bechtel, Eisenwerke Bassum, and WTI belong to the GNS Group and complete the portfolio of nuclear services and containers.

Höfer & Bechtel focuses on the optimisation of process sequences, development, construction, and operation of complex special purpose machines, and measuring equipment for nuclear power plants, as well as radiology and radiation protection.

Eisenwerk Bassum GmbH (EWB) manufactures waste and special containers and provides services in the field of plant and mechanical engineering.

WTI offers planning and engineering services for construction and conversion projects in the nuclear sector, as well as decommissioning planning and calculations.