Project News

Another major lift for Big Carl The skyline of HPC has again changed with the successful lift of the second liner ring on Unit 1’s reactor building. The Sarens giant crane, known as Big Carl, swung into life in the middle of the night to lift the next level of the steel containment in place, […]

Superstructure takes shape in turbine hall After 36 hours of continuous concrete pouring, the project team responsible for the turbine generator table at conventional island Unit 1 ended last year’s construction programme on a high note. With the large reinforced concrete structure in place 20m above the turbine hall base, the focus now is to […]

Vital coolant pump passes demanding tests HPC’s first reactor coolant pump has successfully passed demanding tests following its manufacture. The 128-tonne pump, which is 10 metres high was manufactured by Framatome at their Jeumont facility in France. It is one of four pumps per unit and responsible for circulating water around the reactor’s ‘primary circuit’. […]

Another big lift for Big Carl Big Carl, the world’s biggest crane has placed the first steel ring section onto the second reactor building, just 11 months after the same operation on the first reactor. The installation shows how building an identical copy of the first reactor drives efficiency and saves time. The ring was […]

First rotor delivered to Avonmouth The first low-pressure (LP) rotor, which will form part of the world’s largest turbine, was safely delivered into the docks at Avonmouth at the beginning of November. The 13m x 5m rotor arrived from General Electric’s Belfort facility in France, via Rotterdam into Avonmouth where it will be stored until […]