Plant Vogtle Crane One of Largest in the World

The 560-foot tall lift derrick at Plant Vogtle (Southern Company).

That is one mighty big crane. Here are all the details from Southern Company:

Testing has begun on a major component in the construction of two new nuclear units at Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 – a 560-foot tall heavy lift derrick, one of the biggest cranes in the world.

The derrick, which will be used to move large pieces at the site of the first new nuclear units built in the United States in 30 years, has the capacity to move the equivalent of five 747 jets across the distance of more than three-and-a-half football fields in a single lift.

In addition, major components will begin arriving to the site later this year and early 2013, the first of which will be the reactor vessel for Unit 3. The Unit 3 condensers have arrived from South Korea, where they were manufactured. Unit 3 is scheduled to go online in 2016, and Unit 4 will follow in 2017.

Also at the site, significant work has been done on turbine islands, cooling towers and nuclear islands. Over the next several months, progress will continue to be made in the nuclear island, turbine building and module assemblies.

"The project is progressing extremely well, especially when compared to other large-scale infrastructure projects worldwide," said Joseph A. "Buzz" Miller, Executive Vice President of Nuclear Development for Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear. "The Vogtle 3 and 4 project provides at least $2.2 billion more value to customers than the next best available technology, according to Georgia Public Service Commission staff."

For more photos and videos from the construction site, click here.

Comments

Bill said…

Have they got the rebar issue sorted out? When are they scheduled to start pouring concrete?

August 21, 2012 at 9:01 PM

jim said…

I'd like to know the economic breakdowns of building plants above and underground. Surely digging out a big hole would cost much less than sourcing out for trucking in and operating these monster cranes, not to mention the built-in additional environmental containment and safety issues going underground. Indeed, are there ANY nuclear plants underground??

James Greenidge
Queens NY

August 23, 2012 at 10:02 AM

Anonymous said…

"has the capacity to move the equivalent of five 747 jets across the distance of more than three-and-a-half football fields in a single lift".Wow this crane seems to be a really strong one.I bet it can easily move huge blocks like these over long distances.

September 21, 2015 at 2:06 AM

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