02/22/2010

The third nuclear plant of “Almirante Álvaro Alberto” complex, located at Itaorna beach, in the city of Angra dos Reis – Rio de Janeiro, will be built by Andrade Gutierrez, one of the biggest construction companies in Latin America.

The third nuclear plant of “Almirante Álvaro Alberto” complex, located at Itaorna beach, in the city of Angra dos Reis – Rio de Janeiro, will be built by Andrade Gutierrez, one of the biggest construction companies in Latin America.

When it begins its activities, this new facility will have 1.405 Mwe, which means 11 million MWh – 1/3 of all Rio de Janeiro consumption – and it will be similar to Angra 2, working for more than 8 years. The experience aquired in Angra 2 construction proved that Andrade Gutierrez has the technical capacity needed to build this new project. And to ensure the success of this project Andrade hired Locabens to rent, sell and assembly Potain Tower Cranes as well as provide training and maintenance services.

Potain MCR225A, the first “Potain Luffing Jib Crane” sold in Brazil.

The estimated time for the Angra 3 project conclusion is 5,5 years, starting from the beginning of the reactor foundation concreting, which began in April 2010.

The first new crane installed was the MC175B with 45m Jib and a special tower to reach 64m height without anchoring. One luffing jib MCR225A of 03 units sold is already working and a hydraulic self-erecting IGO36 is already available as well. Three MC205B will be assembled by the end of June.

“All Potain cranes sold have frequency variation mechanism, an electronic control and “Dialog Visu” visualizing system” – said Paulo Carvalho, technical director of Locabens.

Location where a MC175B crane is working since Abril – 2010 and the reactor building foundations.

Appart from the civil constructions, Locabens technicians will be involved in towers services up to the end of the equipment implementation. “Our team will be there for the first 06 months, and each step will be followed closely” said Deise Leandro, Service manager of Locabens. “During the operation our staff will do quarterly inspections in all Potain cranes there, in order to guarantee the cranes performance” , Leandro complements.

“The eight units sold for this project were delivered between 30 to 45 days after they had been ordered, following the ambitious timeline defined by Andrade Gutierrez”, said Paulo Carvalho.

The construction area defined for the three nuclear facilities has been monitored by enviroment programs according to the international standards since the 70’s, and Angra 3 construction will be in compliance of quality requirements of RFCGRC-001/10 inspection report.