Georgia Power announced that the first of three containment vessel rings has been lowered into place at Vogtle unit 4. “Weighing nearly 1,000 tons, the placement of the lower ring for Unit 4 required a tremendous amount of precision and planning to be accomplished safely and correctly,” said Mark Rauckhorst, vice president of construction for Vogtle 3 &4. The heavy lift derrick used to move the component is one of the largest cranes in the world.

The reactor containment vessel, which will house the reactor itself, is made up of the containment vessel bottom head, three containment vessel rings and the containment vessel top head, or dome. Vogtle 4’s containment vessel bottom head was lifted into place in May 2014. When complete, the containment will stand over 60 meters high with a diameter of about 40 meters.

 Other recent milestones for the Vogtle expansion include the receipt of the last major permit needed for the new units, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit; the placement of the concrete “turbine tabletop” for Unit 3 and the placement of the 2.28 million-pound Unit 3 CA01 module.