Reactor Room Cranes
American Crane & Equipment Corporation has over 45 years of experience manufacturing lifting, hoisting, and other material handling equipment for a wide range of industrial applications, including in the nuclear and energy-related industries. These applications often involve handling sensitive and potentially hazardous materials, any equipment employed must offer powerful and reliable, and safe performance. At ACECO, we provide a full range of solutions that meet some of the most demanding handling and control requirements for sensitive loads, such as reactor room cranes.
What Are Reactor Room Cranes?
Nuclear reactors are generally contained and enclosed in a reinforced steel or lead building that is specifically designed to prevent the escape of any radioactive emissions in both steam and gas form. In addition to the fuel ceramic, the metal fuel cladding tubes, and the reactor vessel and coolant system, this structure serves as a protective barrier between radiation and the environment surrounding the reactor. While implementing this preventative measure is essential to avoiding disaster, especially in the case of an emergency, it also makes transporting, loading, and unloading fuel and performing maintenance difficult. Due to the critical nature of the nuclear environment, industry professionals utilize reactor room cranes to facilitate safe operations.
Reactor room cranes—also referred to as polar cranes—typically consist of four components: the main hoist, auxiliary hoist, maintenance jib crane, and man lift. They are used to lift materials in reactor containment buildings safely for a number of operational and maintenance purposes, including:
- Transporting CASTOR fuel elements
- Loading and unloading reactor core materials
- Removing and replacing reactors heads
In addition to performing these necessary functions, they also reduce the need for larger pieces of lifting equipment.
Reactor Room Crane Solutions From American Crane
At American Crane, we offer design, manufacturing, testing, and installation services for custom lifting equipment suitable for use in even the most challenging and critical nuclear applications. In addition to these capabilities, we also offer replacement parts, outage coverage and maintenance support, and 24/7 emergency services to ensure equipment remains in proper working order. For additional information about our reactor room cranes or other lifting solutions, contact us or request a quote today.
