The third and final liner ring has been lifted into place by the giant crane, Big Carl, at the Hinkley Point C’s second reactor building in Somerset, the UK.

Engineering teams were able to lift the 423-tonne steel liner ring into place using Sarens’ SGC-250 ring crane. It is the third ring to be installed on the building, which will house one of Hinkley Point C’s two nuclear reactors. The steel ring, which is 11.6 m in height and 47 m in diameter, forms part of the inner containment wall of the reactor building and will now be encased in two layers of concrete.

The liner ring was fabricated onsite and has supporting brackets for the Polar Crane Beam. This internal crane will rotate 360 degrees above the reactor and will be used to assist in refuelling. The reactor building’s dome lid is scheduled for installation next year.

The first reactor building was capped with its dome last December and is ready for the reactor to be installed later this year.

According to EDF, which owns the project, the teams are using their experience from building the first reactor unit to achieve efficiencies typically of between 20 percent and 30 percent on unit 2.

See the full video below:

This feat follows marine contractor and logistics company Osprey Group delivering polar crane beams for the second reactor building at Hinkley Point C.

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