US crane builder Ederer has supplied a 110 US ton (100t) capacity single failure-proof crane (compliant with NUREG-0554) to lift spent nuclear fuel casks in a fuel building.
Although any device for handling spent fuel is already a special crane, Ederer added in a little extra to this one. The crane’s gantry legs jack up under power, while carrying the trolley. Girder extensions swing out or fold back under power.
The customer – which Ederer did not name – needed the crane to lift the canisters in a small fuel building. This would ‘save the cost of a separate transfer facility and saving other logistics and public-relations problems.’
But the building could not support the weight of crane and load. So the crane erects itself. The building’s own overhead crane will help install, and dismantle the heavy-duty Ederer crane.
The crane features a single failure-proof 110 US ton hoist and a 45 US ton (41t) auxiliary hoist. Both have devices that support a spent fuel storage cask while inserting a fuel canister. The crane is guided by a laser positioning system and skew-adjusting system to centre the crane in the tight confines of a cask loading pit.
The trolley weighs 50 US tons and the total crane weighs about 360 US tons (330t).
