A Liebherr LR 11350 has been used to erect a complete, preformed ring liner at the Kakrapar Nuclear Power Plant in India.
The crawler crane is owned by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), the government-owned company responsible for nuclear energy facilities in India. With a diameter of around 50m, a height of 5m, and a total weight of approximately 170 tonnes, the ring is believed to be – dimensionally – the largest single structure ever to be hoisted by a crane in India.
Initially, the NPCIL team had planned to hoist the 16 ring segments individually onto the inner containment structure of reactor block three. Each section was to be hoisted to a height of 50m, where the ring would be assembled and welded.
However, since the Liebherr LR 11350 was already in use at the site, NPCIL decided to adapt its plans. Due to the crawler’s 1,350-tonne capacity, the team was able to assemble the ring at ground level, and lift it into position with a single hoist. In addition to the associated savings in materials and time, this procedure allowed the quality of welding to be improved.
The crane was fitted with an S main boom, a luffing jib, a derrick system, and a ballast trailer. Whilst the ring liner is the largest structure to be lifted at the Kakrapar site, the heaviest load that has been hoisted by the LR 11350, so far, has been a 400-tonne generator.
In total, NPCIL owns three Liebherr LR 1650s, two LR 11350s, three LTM 1140s, and one LTM 1250-6.1. The corporation only uses its own cranes for major hoisting work.
