Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Plant News, Jobs, and Careers

Barnhart is part of an effort to prepare Kentucky’s workers meet growing workforce demands. Currently, the state is facing a shortage of highly skilled workers to fill approximately 115,000 open jobs. Through the InDemand program, a partnership between Kentucky Educational Television and the … Continue reading →

A Catholic church in Utica, Nebraska had been missing its steeple for many years, seventy to be exact. Back in 1949, the steeple at St. Patrick’s Church had been struck by lightning and consumed by flames. In the following decades, … Continue reading →

Barnhart has years of experience in successfully performing projects for customers during outages and turnarounds. So when we were hired to remove and replace a T-805 tower during a turnaround at a refinery in Texas, it was a project that … Continue reading →

Barnhart was hired to install a 15,679-pound chiller through the top of an 11-story building in Little Rock, Ark. In order to get the proper setup for the crane, the team had to use a public street. This required blocking … Continue reading →

Hauling oversized cargo is nothing new for Barnhart, so a project to receive and transport a degassing and recovery column from the Port of Houston to a plant site in La Porte, Texas was right in our wheelhouse. The recovery … Continue reading →

Barnhart projects often have a long timeframe of at least several months, but in the case of a recently completed project, the timeline was more like six years. As featured in an article in Waterways Journal, the project to deliver … Continue reading →

Barnhart’s Canton, Ohio recently had an unusual assignment – moving a Christmas tree from its site to a location in downtown Central Plaza. The 35-foot, 3,000-pound blue spruce was donated by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, located just a few blocks … Continue reading →

A year-long project at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington involving Barnhart recently received an Engineering News Record (ENR) 2018 Best Project designation. Barnhart’s role was to provide operated crane service and other assistance during the 14-month job. The project … Continue reading →

Sunday was Veteran’s Day, a holiday that originated as Armistice Day to commemorate the agreement that ended World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. Its name was changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day in 1954. This year’s holiday marked … Continue reading →

Barnhart is often called to move cargo large and small and sometimes even antique. Barnhart’s Spokane branch was hired to move a 1920’s era Forney steam locomotive from its site at the Pullman Depot Heritage Center in Pullman to the … Continue reading →

You wouldn’t expect a crane company to devise a system for wind maintenance projects that requires fewer cranes, but that’s what we’ve done with our custom designed blade bar. The blade bar replaces the industry standard two crane method for … Continue reading →

When a wind turbine blade breaks, removing it at over 300 feet from the ground can be a challenge. Barnhart was called to a wind farm in Illinois to remove a broken blade from a wind turbine. The other two … Continue reading →

Barnhart was recently hired for a project at the Holt Lock and Dam on the Black Warrior River in Alabama to remove and replace the lock’s lower mitre gate, our third lock replacement project in the past couple of years. … Continue reading →

Barnhart will expand its services into Ohio through a recent agreement with Selinsky Force based in Canton. Barnhart will purchase the company’s crane and rigging operations, including all associated personnel and equipment. Those resources include crane service with a lifting … Continue reading →

Load testing of equipment is a critical operation and often a requirement under industry standards. It ensures safety of equipment, and most importantly, people. When should you do it? By ASME standards, all lifting equipment that has been fabricated, altered, … Continue reading →

Barnhart is adding its first Idaho location with the company’s recent agreement to purchase Strate Line Inc, a Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based crane service company. The purchase will expand Barnhart’s ability to serve commercial, civil and heavy industrial customers in the northwestern … Continue reading →

Barnhart has an extensive video library of equipment demonstrations, projects and case studies. In the video case study below, Barnhart was hired for a job at a pulp & paper plant in the Midwest. The project involved receiving a 400,000-pound package … Continue reading →

Barnhart recently took home an SC&RA (Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association) Rigging Job of the Year award in the $750,000 to $2 million category. The company also received an award in the Under $150,000 category as well. The winning project … Continue reading →

Faced with clearances of less than two inches, Barnhart pulled off a rigging challenge that resulted in a 2018 SC&RA award in the category of “Rigging Job of the Year Under $150,000.”  Barnhart has received Job of the Year recognition … Continue reading →

Barnhart was hired to remove and replace fuel heat exchangers at a nuclear plant in Wisconsin. The 14,750 lbs. vessels had to be maneuvered in a small space. To overcome the tight tolerances, the engineering team had to design a … Continue reading →

A recent haul by Barnhart involved one of the most enigmatic particles in the cosmos. Barnhart was hired to receive and transport two neutrino detectors, which were shipped from Europe. A neutrino detector is designed to capture and inspect neutrinos, … Continue reading →

Barnhart was recently hired to remove and replace two feedwater heaters at a power plant in Kansas during a planned outage. But it wasn’t going to be easy. The project, which was featured in Cranes Today, had a number of … Continue reading →

Barnhart crews from the Memphis branch recently transported two 310,00 natural gas-fired generators to a substation in Tallahassee. The substation serves critical customers including Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and the Tallahassee Police Department, and the move was part of continued efforts … Continue reading →

Last week, Barnhart’s heavy haul of a massive piece of equipment drew onlookers along the route in Oklahoma. The 317,000 lbs. unit, known as a coker bubble tower, started at a fabricator in Sand Springs. Barnhart loaded it onto two … Continue reading →

Barnhart was hired to haul a 435,000-pound turbine to Dexter, Minn., a journey of over 1000 miles that originated in Alberta, Canada. The turbine was brought to the border town of Sweet Grass, Mont. where it was staged on stands. … Continue reading →

It was 1968, a year of tumultuous events, marked by the shocking assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. But as the year came to a close, millions raised their eyes to the skies for the hopeful message of … Continue reading →

To properly size and select a crane for a job many factors must be considered to determine the right type of crane and corresponding capacity. Should it be a heavy lift crane? Boom truck crane? Rough Terrain crane? Weight and … Continue reading →

Barnhart’s Phoenix branch occupies a unique niche. Nearly 68,000 square feet of its 72,000 square foot facility is devoted to storage of a very specific kind. The facility acts as a response center for the SAFER (Strategic Alliance for Flex … Continue reading →

Barnhart has opened a second location in Kentucky with a new facility in Calvert City, joining Owensboro in the Bluegrass State. “While we have been providing crane and rigging services and heavy transportation in the Calvert City area for many … Continue reading →

Barnhart has been busy addressing critical infrastructure needs at waterways across the southeast. Their work on three lock and dam projects, including one featured in a blog last month, was recently profiled in Waterways Journal. These projects utilized both traditional … Continue reading →

A project at a lock and dam in Kentucky required Barnhart to bring out the big guns, otherwise known as Big Al. Big Al is Barnhart’s barge-mounted heavy lift crane based in the Port of Mobile in Alabama. It was … Continue reading →

A pulp and paper mill in Alabama needed to replace a 28’ long X 8’ diameter, 34,000 lb. deaerator. The unit was located just below the roofline of a 100’ tall building. The traditional method of lifting the piece through … Continue reading →

Barnhart’s Mount Vernon, Washington branch recently completed a project that involved one of the largest mobile cranes in the country. Barnhart was hired to set a 220-foot-long pedestrian bridge over the Green River in Kent, Washington. The lift of the … Continue reading →

Barnhart’s Mount Vernon, Wash. branch recently completed a project that required tapping into their extensive equipment inventory. Barnhart was hired to set a 220-foot-long pedestrian bridge over the Green River in  Kent, Wash. The lift of the Tukwila Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge … Continue reading →

Thirty-eight individual pieces. Over 7,000 tons of components.  Final assembly 60’ below ground. That’s the scope of a project Barnhart is currently undertaking in Long Beach. Headed up by Barnhart’s local branch, the job started six month ago when SMS … Continue reading →

Barnhart is no stranger to handling massive equipment and loads. We’ve erected the structure that held the world’s largest jumbotron and transported the components of the world’s largest tunnel boring machine. Now you can add a couple of superloads, which … Continue reading →

Next week, people across the United States will be celebrating July 4th with fireworks, festivities and backyard barbecues galore. For most people, it’s a day off from work to celebrate America’s 241st birthday. It’s also a chance to reflect upon … Continue reading →

Barnhart specializes in remove and replace projects. We enjoy the challenge involved in safely extricating a component, which is often buried in a tight, congested space with limited access, and replacing it while causing minimal plant disruptions and downtime. These kinds of … Continue reading →

On Memorial Day, we will remember those in the armed forces who gave their lives for our country. We are grateful to them and to our military veterans for their service and sacrifice. Veterans are part of the Barnhart team. … Continue reading →

Creative thinking and extensive planning resulted in two 2017 Job of the Year awards for Barnhart from the Specialized Crane and Rigging Association (SC&RA). Barnhart was recognized in the categories of “Rigging Job of the Year Under $150,000” and “Hauling … Continue reading →

While Barnhart performs and documents jobs of all sizes, the massive projects involving large equipment and oversize components are often hard to capture. Words and photos can’t always do a project justice. An example was a lift of a towering … Continue reading →

Barnhart is developing an unusual niche when it comes to sports arenas. Last spring, they were involved in the lift of the world’s largest jumbotron at Bristol Motor Speedway. This week, Barnhart is in Fayetteville, Ark. to help with a … Continue reading →

Barnhart’s 32 branches are located all across the country. They include a string of Midwest locations stretching from Chicago to Lincoln, Nebraska and north into South Dakota. This Midwest presence was established in 2014, when Barnhart acquired Crane Rental and … Continue reading →

R & R projects, the remove and replace variety, are often challenging, time-sensitive jobs performed during turnarounds and outages. These are the kinds of projects we relish. During a turnaround at a refinery in California, Barnhart was given little notice on … Continue reading →

Barnhart Crane & Rigging has been selected by space agency NASA to transport components for its Space Launch System (SLS). SLS will be the world’s most powerful rocket for deep-space missions. The project will involve delivery of a steel mock-up … Continue reading →

Barnhart was hired to devise an innovative lift system for a rigging project at a nuclear plant in Louisiana. The process was outlined in a recent article in Cranes Today. One of the plant’s two 35-year-old clarifiers was taken offline … Continue reading →

For most of the game during Super Bowl 51 on Monday, victory for the Atlanta Falcons seemed assured. Despite having won four previous Super Bowl titles and being three-point favorites, the New England Patriots were behind at halftime 21-3. By … Continue reading →

The adjustable rigging link system (ARLS) is a cool tool in Barnhart’s equipment arsenal. The ARLS is unique to the industry and offers some big advantages. Used primarily for high-capacity loads, the system resembles a large bicycle chain. The length of … Continue reading →

Work during outages and shutdowns requires proper planning, management, and innovative solutions to keep overall costs down. A job Barnhart performed at a nuclear power plant exemplifies those standards. Barnhart was hired to remove and replace two feedwater heaters (FWH) … Continue reading →

During World War I on Christmas Day in 2014, British soldiers stationed on the Western Front heard an unusual sound. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
 Alles schläft, einsam wacht… German soldiers were singing “Silent Night,” a gesture of goodwill that began … Continue reading →