At the construction site of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkiye, a bridge crane with a carrying capacity of 350 tonnes has been put into operation in the engine room of unit 1. This is the main crane of the turbine building – the bridge electric double-beam crane – and will enable lifting, transport, loading and unloading operations during construction and installation work and subsequently during operation of the plant.
In total, in the unit 1 engine room, three bridge cranes are installed at different levels, which together comprise a high-tech control system. It prevents collisions of cranes, hooks or ropes in any operational scenarios. On the upper tier, the main lifting bridge crane, which is equipped with two carts and traverses, is already installed. On the lower tier of the turbine compartment there are wide-spread bridge cranes with a carrying capacity of 30 and 15 tonnes.
Sergey Butsky, First Deputy General Director of project company Akkuyu Nukleer and Director of plant construction said: “After completing all the necessary control operations, the first of the three bridge cranes of the turbine compartment was put into operation. At the end of installation, all cranes will be used to install equipment and move heavy cargo in the engine room. During operation, the crane is necessary to organise the maintenance and repair of the main and auxiliary equipment of the turbine building. The service life of each crane is designed for the entire period of operation of the unit. The design and manufacture provides the highest degree of reliability.”
Akkuyu, Turkiye's first NPP, will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model and the project is fully funded by Russia. However, Rosatom has the right to sell up to 49% in the project shares to other investors. The pouring of first concrete for unit 1 took place in April 2018, for unit 2 in June 2020, for unit 3 in March 2021, and for unit 4 in July 2022. Completion of unit 1 is expected in the third quarter of 2023 and it is expected to begin operation in October 2024.
Image: The bridge crane at Akkuyu NPP (courtesy of Rosatom)
