The 147.6-tonne top section of the outer containment dome of Akkuyu NPP Unit 1 was lifted by crawler crane to a height of more than 57 metres and installed in its design position in September 2024.
A remarkable heavy-lift operation took place at Unit 1 of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in September 2024. The 147.6-tonne top section of the unit's outer containment dome was raised by a crawler-mounted self-propelled crane and set into its design position at an installation height of between 57.1 and 65.4 metres. According to a photo report published by World Nuclear News on 23 September 2024, the operation took more than six hours and involved 30 specialists (Source).
A dome 34.7 metres in diameter, weighing over 500 tonnes
The outer containment dome measures 34.7 metres in diameter. Once all of its sections are joined, the dome's total weight exceeds 500 tonnes. With the top section set in place, one of the critical thresholds in the dome assembly was passed. The outer containment forms the outermost structural layer of the reactor building (Source).
An outer shell built to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis
According to a NucNet report published in early September 2024, the 1.5-metre-thick reinforced concrete outer containment shell is designed to withstand extreme external events including severe earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. The reactor building is thus surrounded by a thick structural barrier against natural disaster scenarios (Source).
The operation from a heavy-lift engineering perspective
Lifting a 147.6-tonne structural element to a height on the order of 60 metres and landing it within tight tolerances requires a high-capacity crawler crane, detailed lift planning and hours of coordinated teamwork. In lift plans of this scale, determining the load's centre of gravity, selecting rigging equipment and monitoring weather conditions are among the parameters worked out well in advance, in line with established industry practice. Operations of this kind are considered among the most visible on-site applications of oversized and heavy cargo engineering.
A standout site development of September 2024
The installation of the dome's top section was one of the developments showing that structural work at Akkuyu's first unit had reached its upper elevations. The fact that both NucNet and World Nuclear News covered the operation in separate reports illustrated the attention it received in the international nuclear trade press. The management of the six-hour-plus lift by a 30-strong specialist team was recorded as an example of the rigorous preparation behind critical operations on nuclear construction sites. Work towards completing the outer shell also matters for preparing the unit for its subsequent phases.