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Manitowoc crane undergoes complete renovation in Rio

The 600-tonne capacity lattice-boom crawler crane now is operational and ready to be deployed at Angra 3 – the third and final reactor at Angra Nuclear Power Plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

The EnCORE team – a specialised Manitowoc repair group – has refurbished the Manitowoc 4600 lattice-boom after 22 months of work.

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The 600-tonne capacity lattice-boom crawler crane now is operational and is being deployed at Angra 3 – the third and final reactor at Angra Nuclear Power Plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The unique nature of the Manitowoc 4600 is the reason why key decision makers opted for a total refurbishment, rather than purchasing a replacement crane.

“As we disassembled the equipment, we needed to replace parts of the structure and more than 600 critical components, including motors, pumps, valves, and sensors,” said Manitowoc Product Support Manager, Ricardo Cunha.

“Some of these parts were not easy to find — it is a unique crane that was mounted in a ringer configuration. There are not many others like it in the world,” said Ricardo.

The crane’s counterweight is supported by the main boom being positioned on the ringer; the configuration ensures greater lifting capacity when compared with similar cranes.

“Because of the ringer configuration, the 600-tonne lift capacity Manitowoc 4600 crane can lift very heavy metal parts used to construct the plant’s reactor from a long distance. If they had opted for new mobile equipment, they would have to use a crane with much higher capacity to carry out the same task,” said Ricardo.

Manitowoc’s EnCORE team also updated the crane’s operating system and installed a modern load monitoring system, whereby the operator can be supplied with pivotal technical data.

The Manitowoc 4600 was purchased by the Brazilian state company Eletronuclear in 1982 and it was used to construct Angra 2, the country’s second nuclear plant.

 

 

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