Offshore installation vessels Gulliver and Rambiz have installed the last of six head structures at the bottom of the Bristol Channel.
The 5,000-tonne concrete structures will cap the tunnels supplying Hinkley Point C’s two nuclear reactors with cooling water.
The unit was towed out 30 nautical miles into the channel to meet two floating heavy lift cranes, which had a combined lifting capacity of 7,300 tonnes. The Scaldis heavy lift vessels then worked in tandem to place the head structure onto the seabed.
The six head structures were manufactured by Balfour Beatty and have been completed to the precise nuclear grade specifications. Now in position, the six head structures will be connected to the 5 miles (8 km) of underground tunnels, allowing 120,000 litres of sea water to circulate every second.
