The first of two giant turbine hall crane girders has been delivered to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project in the UK by Osprey Group.
EDF, the project’s developer, said the girder spans the width of a football pitch and was moved from Avonmouth to Hinkley Point C last week. Once both girders are installed, they will be responsible for supporting the 300-tonne capacity overhead crane as it manoeuvres on rails up and down the Unit 1 turbine hall. The crane will be used for the assembly of the steam turbine, as well as for maintenance throughout the operational life of the power station.
John O’Connor, Osprey’s contract integration lead, said: “The delivery of these huge assets in near-complete condition can only have been achieved by close collaboration across multiple teams. The modularisation and fit-out of the 300-tonne crane offsite at Avonmouth meant the build was optimised and accelerated. It also released valuable space onsite so another programme could construct its assets early. The benefits are far-reaching. I’m pleased to see how our team developed transportation and installation schemes to support this. It really shows what can be achieved when experience meets logic, and the teams involved focus shared engineering expertise to achieve a common goal.”
Construction of the UK’s first nuclear power plant in a generation is in full swing. In July, Global Energy Group (GEG) said the fabrication and load-out of the final two liner assemblies has been completed, and were en route to the project. In June, Marr Contracting detailed how its M2480D heavy lift luffing (HLL) tower crane had been put to use at the project, assisting with the handling of tunnel boring machines.
Earlier this year, Osprey coordinated the transport of a 500-tonne reactor pressure vessel. The unit first arrived in the UK at Avonmouth Docks. Osprey’s barge team then transported it to Combwich Wharf ahead of the final leg of the journey – the 7.4 km trip from the wharf up to the main construction area.
