The installation works were carried out under the control of engineers supervisors from the Chinese manufacturer Zoomlion. The crane assembly began in early August. The equipment was delivered in sections from the Chinese city of Changsha.
At the production stage, specialists from TITAN-2 Holding conducted full oversight of the crane’s manufacturing process, from welding metal structures to painting individual components, and made a number of improvements and refinements to the design.
At the site preparation stage, a ground foundation was created and special concrete and steel slabs were laid for the subsequent installation of heavy equipment.
Aleksey Nemtsev, the senior mechanic of the lifting equipment installation section of UMIAT LLC, spoke about the work progress:
«We started assembly practically from the get-go. The crane was delivered in sections; a total of about 64 lowboy trips were required, and the transportation process took up almost the entire installation time.
We first assembled the base machine, which included the rotating and power platforms, crossbars, and crawler tracks. These components alone weighed 124 tons. After installing the counterweights, the total weight of the machine exceeded 800 tons. At the next stage, we connected the hydraulic units and electrical equipment, after which we checked their functionality.
Then, we began assembling the boom and the luffing jib. The final operation was raising the boom and reeving the hook suspension, which weighs approximately 34 tons.»
An auxiliary Manitowoc 18000 caterpillar crane with a lifting capacity of 750 tons and a Youngmao tower crane were used to install the Zoomlion crane. 10 installers and 5 engineers were involved in the works. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the UMIAT team, the assembly has been completed ahead of schedule.
Maksim Chernov, Deputy Head of the Lifting Facilities Operation Section of UMIAT LLC, noted:
«This is not the first Zoomlion crane we have installed. The experience we had gained assembling a similar ZCC32000 at the El Dabaa NPP in Egypt last year played a key role. We have a clear understanding of the installation sequence, which significantly speeds up the process.
Furthermore, we have established close cooperation with our Chinese colleagues: we had already successfully collaborated in Egypt, so our communication was extremely effective. Importantly, we fully controlled the entire manufacturing cycle, assembly, and testing of the crane at the Chinese factory, allowing us to consider all technical details in advance.»
Currently, the Company’s specialists are beginning control testing of the crane. Once successfully completed, the equipment will be registered by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision, and commissioned.
The powerful Zoomlion ZCC32000 lifting mechanism will be used in key operations at the LNPP-2 construction site, including the installation of the core catcher and the assembly of large-scale nuclear island equipment.
For information:
The TITAN-2 Holding is a Russian group of companies that builds nuclear facilities. Organisations of the Holding perform the whole cycle of works, from development of basic design documentation to facility commissioning.
The TITAN-2 Holding is the general contractor for construction of the new power units of the Leningrad NPP. At the construction site, the organisations of the Holding perform all civil construction, installation, and electric installation works.
The Holding participates in the construction of Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, Paks II NPP in Hungary and El-Dabaa NPP in Egypt.