St Lucie Nuclear

To enable the removal and replacement of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and pressurizer at the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, The Steam Generator Team (SGT) contracted Cutting Technologies (CTI) to breach a large section of the containment building's heavily reinforced concrete wall. Using diamond wire sawing, CTI cut a block measuring 27 feet in diameter by 3 feet thick, allowing it to be rigged clear from the building wall.

Great care is required when removing the concrete from around the shield's steel key ring. A previous contractor spent over 316 labor- intensive outage hours with four men and hand tools to complete this delicate work. Working with a Brokk robotic hammer from our Specialty Equipment Arsenal™ , just two of CTI's skilled technicians were able to complete the same amount of work in only nine hours. In all, CTI cut through 496 square feet of concrete weighing more than 128 tons in just four days, completing the project two days ahead of schedule and saving the contractor more than $60,000.