The site assembly of the trestle crane with the capacity of 360 tons has been completed at the construction site of the 2nd Leningrad NPP power block with VVER-1200 type reactor. The crane is designed to move the equipment during the construction and operation, as well as to deliver the nuclear fuel into the containment zone of the reactor vessel.

‘The crane was assembled right in front of the reactor building at the assembly site. This ‘ground’ way of assembly helps reduce the number of operations that we would have to perform at height and, hence, speed up the process and make it more safe’, Andrey Kuznetsov, the deputy head of centralized maintenance workshop responsible for lifting devices, said. To assemble the frame, the mobile and the lifting elements, the wheels, we used a regular caterpillar crane. Now, the installation workers at height are to install the crane service platform, the cable tracks and the electric equipment, as well as to assemble the crane rails. This is the prerequisite to lifting the crane to the projected height of 40 meters to the equipment airlock.

Once the crane is installed, the specialists will assemble the portal, the additional lifting mechanisms, the control cab and other elements. In parallel, the construction team will lay the power lines and the control lines, perform the electrical works at the crane itself and at the security building where the lifting equipment control systems are based.

Despite the large scope of electrical and pre-commissioning works, the team has to put the crane in place by the end of this year.