Polar Cranes for Reactor Room Use
Reactor servicing cranes, or polar cranes, operate on a circular runway located near the spring line of the containment/reactor building. These cranes are primarily used to removal and replacement of the reactor head, as well as during the refueling outages.
We have been designing cranes for nuclear facilities for over four decades and pioneered the use of the polar crane and single failure proof crane concepts.
Our current design utilizes the best elements of the original designs, while using modern materials and processes – making them lighter and easier to use.
The design of these cranes may also be subject to seismic considerations from earthquakes. In terms of design complexity, there are four methods for determining the forces that may develop from a seismic event:
• Static forces
• Single-mode modal analysis
• Multiple-mode modal analysis
• Time-history analysis
For specific answers to application questions, please contact us at (800) 861-5744.