SECTOR REPORT Ӏ ENERGY
successfully into place. The steel dome weighed 245 tonnes and is 14 metres tall; it now sits on top of the 44-metre-high reactor building. The dome is the top part
of the reactor building’s inner containment, a steel cylinder encased in concrete. 47m in diameter, it is wider than the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. It is made up of 38
prefabricated panels which were shipped to Hinkley Point and welded together in an onsite factory. Prefabrication and modular construction are key features of the station’s construction. The lift started at 07:20, a
time carefully planned to take advantage of a weather window to allow the hour-and-a-half long manoeuvre to be completed in low wind conditions. Earlier in December the
750 tonne Polar Crane, that will serve the reactor during its working lifetime, was lifted into place – again by Big Carl – in a single piece and set in place above the reactor building’s third and final steel liner ring. This internal crane will rotate 360° above the reactor and be used for refuelling and installing equipment. The major milestone lift of the
roof closes the building, allowing the first nuclear reactor – there will be two at the site – to be installed. 10,000 workers and 3,500 British companies are building the station, which is planned to provide zero-carbon electricity for six million homes once it is running in, according to the most recently-announced schedule, 2028. A video of the lift can be seen here:
www.youtube.com/ watch?v=s2GkK1TQzCc
Heavy lifting was also involved in another fossil-alternative power station in the UK: a new waste-to-energy plant at Skelton Grange, near Leeds. It is on part of the site of two former coal- powered stations, now demolished. A turbine and generator at the new plant were successfully transported, offloaded, and installed by specialised haulage and lifting company Allelys. The lift and installation
Night-time turbine lift by Allelys
were through the roof of the uncompleted new hall and complex planning and transport were required. The turbine, weighing 160 tonnes and measuring 7.8m x 5.35m x 4.6m arrived into Goole docks, where Allelys discharged the vessel using its Liebherr LG1550 mobile crane. It was then positioned onto stools at the
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