Huge transformer delivered to site
A 120-tonne auxiliary transformer has arrived on site. It will be used in situations when main
overhead line connection to the National Grid is unavailable. With a capacity of 60,000 litres of oil, the auxiliary transformer is 7m tall – the equivalent of a two-storey house. Kier BAM installed a permanent access road, which allowed the transformer to complete the final stage of its journey across the site, after its long voyage from the ABB factory in Cordoba, Spain.
More progress on reactor building
A 304-tonne third liner ring has been lifted into place on the Unit 1 reactor building by the crane Big Carl. It is the fourth of the five pieces that make up the steel containment to be installed following the successful installation of the liner cup and first and second Liner rings. It takes the height of the structure in the reactor building to 43 metres and again changes the skyline at HPC. The focus now turns to completing the final inner containment lifts before the dome is lifted into place.
Preparations well underway to connect tunnels
The Balfour Beatty team is concentrating on the next phase of its marine and tunnelling project – connecting the intake and outfall heads to the three undersea tunnels in a first-of-its-kind operation. Four of the six 40m-long steel casings needed have now been delivered to Portbury Docks, with the remaining two to be brought over in 2023. These casings will support the ground during the offshore drilling operations, which will be taking place next year. To put their size into context, they are almost the height of the Statue of Liberty.
Taken from The Point, December 2022
