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Nuclear Crane Service
Cooper Nuclear
Our Challenge
Cooper Nuclear relied completely on an older 197-ton Whiting turbine crane to complete necessary maintenance during refueling outages. The 30 year old crane was becoming a question mark more and more with each passing year. Obsolete technologies paired with declining reliability were the main problems. Breakdowns were rising and components were becoming harder to find. Crane downtime during an outage was extremely costly for Cooper. Cooper’s critical path time was approximately $50,000 hourly.
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The Resolution
Issues caused by breakdown problems related to hoist gearboxes and load brakes as well as obsolete controls increased. The load brake assembly in the main hoist gearbox broke down with a turbine hanging in the air during a previous refuel outage in 2003. The operator had to extend the upper limit switch to allow them more space between the bottom of the hoist and the load to bring it down safely.
Initially the crane was assembled for cab control coordinated between a rigger/spotter on the floor and the operator located inside the cab. We suggested that they install radio controls to boost the procedure’s speed and eliminate the need to have an operator inside the cab. The load brake function would be replaced by Drivecon vector drives to enhance operation smoothness, speed and reliability. The retrofit also specified:
- Variable frequency drives on all motions
- New brakes
- New runway conductor bar system
- New electrical control panels and festoon system
- Motors
The Results
In less than 14 hours, ten of our technicians arrived at Cooper’s location and were moved inside the containment area due to necessary procedures and inspections. Also, these employees were scheduled to work elsewhere that day. Even with this opposition, we finished the work, including a test load comprised of 412,000 pounds of hard weights in an extremely restricted area, right on time.
"Now the crane is much more reliable—we have minimal downtime," said the company’s project manager and construction superintendent, Tom Cook. “The worst problem we’ve seen since the modernization was a blown fuse, and they fixed that in minutes. Konecranes has also provided us with training on how to operate the new controls, and will supply tech reps for our upcoming outage.”
According to Cooper Nuclear, the operation was a success.
