Nuclear Reactor Successfully Installed at UK Plant in “Feat of Engineering”
By Malcolm Ramsay
From Issue 1, 2025 of Breakbulk Magazine.
In December 2024, the Hinkley project reached a new milestone when the reactor unit was finally installed, marking the first nuclear reactor to be installed in the UK for more than 30 years.
The 13-meter-long reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was housed in a 500-tonne steel container and had been transported to the site from France, where it was fabricated by Nuclear Steam Supply Systems (NSSS) designer and manufacturer, Framatome.
“From a technical point of view, the main challenge was to adapt vessel lifting gears to the specific lifting point of the reactor and manage a safe procedure to connect the removable pin to the slings,” Élodie Ollat, manager transport and logistics for Framatome Saint-Marcel, told Breakbulk.
“From a logistics point of view, the main challenge was ensuring transhipment coordination between barge and vessel, as the barge had a limited time frame to operate within the port.
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Delivery to the site was completed in February 2023, with the reactor held in storage until procedures began for the final process to lift the unit into place and install. To achieve this complex move, the RPV was first winched up the side of the 44-meter-tall reactor building, using a custom lifting system from Mammoet that took 12 hours to complete.
Gavin Kerr, global cranes director at Mammoet, called the move an “exceptional use of our containerized winch systems, outside and inside the reactor building. Multiple combined techniques were involved in what really is precision work.”
After the huge steel cylinder was lifted to the correct height it was transferred onto rails for movement inside the structure, travelling through an equipment hatch that was 19.5 meters tall. Once in place, it was then rotated using a large internal polar crane before being lowered onto a support ring.
This entire process had to be completed within very tight tolerances and strict safety procedures to safeguard the sensitive cargo, with just 40mm clearance on either side.
UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband welcomed the installation of the UK’s first RPV in more than a generation, hailing “a significant feat of engineering and a major step forward for the UK’s most advanced nuclear project,” noting that it will provide around 7% of the UK’s electricity demand over the next 60 years.
The next step for the installation will see giant steam turbines fitted to the plant, each capable of producing 1,770 megawatts (MW). These giant units will both be 50 meters in height, setting a new record for the world’s largest turbines and forming part of a massive powertrain fed by a total of eight steam generators.
Developed by French engineering group Arabelle Solutions, the Hinkley Point C turbines will be the latest evolution of its tested design, beating its own record for the world’s largest steam turbine, currently in operation at Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in China. The huge components will feature the largest last-stage blade ever made and will produce 3.2GW of low-carbon electricity once operational.
“At 72 meters long, Arabelle is comparable in size to an Airbus 380 airplane, made to the precision of a Swiss watch,” said Noel Zagala, nuclear sourcing key account leader at Arabelle Solutions. Alongside the giant turbines, the power station project will involve installation of 360 kilometers of pipes and 10,000 kilometers of cable.
Read more: Custom Lifting for UK's Flagship Nuclear Project
Mammoet is an exhibitor at Breakbulk Middle East.
TOP PHOTO: The RPV is installed with very tight tolerances and strict safety measures. Credit EDF
SECOND: The RPV was winched up the side of the reactor building using Mammoet's lifting system. Credit: EDF
