Potain Six years on ITER nuclear power plant.

Since the first concrete pouring at the end of 2014, a total of seven Potain cranes have successfully completed the civil engineering and concreting works for the new generation ITER nuclear power plant.

After the acquisition of the six cranes in 2014 by contractor Dodin Campenon Bernard, part of VINCI Construction, several new cranes were gradually installed on the site for work annexed to the construction of the reactor, or for concrete work on all of the one hundred buildings now present on the site.

After the acquisition of the six cranes in 2014 by contractor Dodin Campenon Bernard, part of VINCI Construction, several new cranes were gradually installed on the site for work annexed to the construction of the reactor, or for concrete work on all of the one hundred buildings now present on the site.

Most recently, an MDT 389 equipped with Manitowoc’s CCS control system joined the fleet of Potain cranes already on site. The crane was installed on a 96 m rail to manage the reinforcement and formwork fleet, with logistical support for concreting. 

After disassembling the MDT 308 crane last September from the center of the bioshield for the reactor containment, and the MD 175 on the park for the civil works and the framework of the main building, the second phase of construction began, including the finishing work.

It is on this second phase that the Potain cranes and new machines have begun the last stages of construction. Today, four cranes are still constructing the buildings around the reactor – an MD 610, MD 485, MD 560 and an MDT 368.

The cranes have worked for five years pouring the concrete that will be necessary to contain the reactor, as well as assembling more than one million components, lifting steel profiles that range from 50 mm to 250 mm thick. These will house the systems necessary for the operation of the ITER Tokamak device, where nuclear energy will be produced.

Since the concrete pouring ended, the cranes on site have been used to install the metal structures of the buildings. The main seven-story concrete building will be 120 m long and 80 m wide. There will also be 16,000 t of rebar, 150,000 m3 of concrete and 7,500 t of steel in the structure.

Source Manitowoc/Potain