The world’s largest land-based crane, known as Big Carl, has successfully installed a 500-tonne reactor pressure vessel at EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, England. The complex lifting operation took two days and marked a major construction milestone for the plant’s second reactor unit.

The 13-metre-long vessel was lifted by the Sarens SGC-250 crane and positioned inside the reactor building before being rotated into a vertical position by the plant’s internal polar crane. The component was then carefully lowered onto its support ring with a clearance of just 40 millimetres on either side, requiring precise coordination between multiple teams involved in the operation.

According to EDF, using Big Carl for the lift helped save space, time, and costs compared with the method used for the first reactor unit. The company said construction of Unit 2 is progressing 20% to 30% faster than Unit 1, reflecting lessons learned and improvements made during the project’s development.