Sixty-five members of the 2022 Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Hoisting and Rigging Cranes User Group attended a five-day conference at the Hilton Lexington/Downtown in Lexington, Ky.

Sixty-five members of the 2022 Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Hoisting and Rigging Cranes User Group attended a five-day conference at the Hilton Lexington/Downtown in Lexington, Ky.

The group also conducted hands-on demonstrations at Link-Belt Cranes on Link-Belt's 120-ton 120|RT and 75-ton 75|RT rough terrain cranes, as well as group discussion on industry specific topics like nuclear plant maintenance and best practices. In total, attendees represented 40 different companies across the United States and abroad, including Finland, Slovenia and Sweden.

"The group here today is the hoisting rigging and cranes user group. This is a collection of subject matter experts in both engineering and maintenance departments at nuclear power plants around the U.S. and world," said Matthew Hinman, principal technical leader — Nuclear.

EPRI collaborates with the electricity sector and its stakeholders since 1972 with membership growing to represent approximately 90 percent of the electric utility revenue generated in the United States and extends to participation in more than 38 countries.

"We use mobile cranes extensively in our industry. Today we're demonstrating boom deflection [with 120|RT], which is a common occurrence in our lifts, we lift very heavy objects at our power plants and boom deflection is critical because often the tolerances are very tight. Safety is something we really take a lot of time and attention and focus on in our nuclear power plants. With the 75|RT we are tripping a unit, or turning or rending depending on your terminology, but we're basically taking an object that's installed vertically, laying it down horizontal. We do that with pumps, large intake screens, various structures in our power plants," said Hinman.

For more information, visit www.linkbelt.com.

This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.

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