Final steel liner ring lifted into place at Hinkley Point C

The third and final liner ring has been lifted into place by giant crane, ‘Big Carl’, at Hinkley Point C’s second reactor building

Engineering teams were able to lift the 423-tonne steel liner ring into place on Monday 14 October. It is the third and final ring to be installed on the building, which will be home to one of Hinkley Point C’s two nuclear reactors. The steel ring, which is 11.6m in height and 47m in diameter, forms part of the inner containment wall of the reactor building and will now be encased in two layers of concrete.

The liner ring was prefabricated in a factory on site and also features supporting brackets for the polar crane beam. This internal crane will rotate 360deg above the reactor and be used for refuelling. The reactor building now only has the ‘lid’ to be placed on top, with the dome lift scheduled for next year.

The first reactor building was capped with its own dome last December and is ready for the reactor to be installed later this year. ‘Big Carl’s’ latest lift highlights the progress being made at Hinkley Point C, where teams are using the learnings from building the first reactor unit to achieve efficiencies typically of between 20 and 30% on unit 2.

The power station will supply six-million homes with clean energy and is a crucial element in helping the UK avoid another energy crisis.