The final steel liner ring for Hinkley Point C has been lifted by Big Carl, the world’s largest crane at 250m tall
Big Carl – the largest crane in the world – has lifted Hinkley Point C’s final steel liner ring into place at the second reactor building.
The ring was lifted into place on 14 October, and weighs 423 tonnes.
Hinkley Point C will power 6m homes
The steel ring that Big Carl lifted is 11.6 metres tall, and 47 metres in diameter. It now forms a part of the inner containment wall in the reactor building, after being encased in two layers of concrete.
It is the third ring to be placed in the building, and was prefabricated in an on-site factory. The prefab nature allowed for supporting brackets to be installed for the Polar Frame Beam.
The first reactor building was completed and capped with its dome in December last year, and the second building is well on its way to be ready for the reactors to be installed next year, as it awaits its own cap.
Big Carl is the world’s largest crane at 250m tall
The crane is named after Carl Serens, the founder of the company that built it, and is actually called the SGC-250.
The crane runs on 6km of track with 96 wheels, and has a capacity to lift 5,000 tonnes through 52 counterweight containers with 100 tonnes each. Big Carl also runs on 12 engines, has a lifting radius of 40m, and will have lifted over 700 heavy components for Hinckley Point C by the projects end.
The crane has allowed for swift progress. Combined with the team’s experience in building the first reactor building, efficiency is up in building the second reactor building by 20-30%.
Once completed, the two EPR pressurised water reactors at Hinkley Point C are expected to make 1630MWe, and will operate for at least 80 years.
