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22.01.2017

Crane overturns in Japan

Strong winds are blamed for the collapse of the lattice boom of a crawler crane at the Takahama nuclear power station due north of Kyoto, Japan.

The incident occurred on Friday, when 112 metres of boom and luffing jib went over the back of the crane, during the storm and landed on the roof of a building housing spent fuel rods. Thankfully no one was injured and nothing fell into the spent fuel pool, according to a statement made by the plant operator Kansai Electric Power. The utility also said that it will investigate the failure and re-examine procedures for putting cranes in a safe condition during strong winds.
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The wind took the boom and jib over the rear


The crane is one of four crawlers working on safety-enhancement work at the plant, which includes placing a concrete dome over the 40 year old No. 2 reactor building, in order to extend its service life. The crane was shut down at the time due in part to a weather warning forecasting the strong winds.

A spokesman for the plant said: "We are sorry for causing concern. We thought it would be all right after calculating the effects from the wind. However, we hadn't taken wind direction into consideration.
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The boom landed on the roof of a spent fuel rod building


Comments

JCM AP
Looking at the picture, it appears that if the set down area of the crawler was adequately prepared, there is ample room to the left of the building to 'pike' the jib in case of strong winds. This was an accident that should not have happened.

Jan 24, 2017

Eric L
Looks like the storage building is pretty solid !

Jan 23, 2017