It is never easy to beat Russian strength athletes who are generally considered unconquerable when it comes to displaying raw power and technique.
Their passion for lifting and moving heavy weights reached another level on Tuesday when a team of four Russian athletes set a world record in movement of heavy weights.
And, it was not a truck or a boulder but a nuclear reactor that they moved to achieve the feat!
Russian powerlifting athletes Yuri Kuzmin, Yegor Sorokaletov, Evgeny Osipov and Alexey Islentyev decided to celebrate September 28, the 'Day of the Nuclear Industry Worker' – a professional holiday of workers of the nuclear industry in the country – in a special way yesterday.
In an event held at the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk (part of the machine-building division of Rosatom – Atomenergomash JSC), the four powerlifters moved a nuclear reactor vessel, loaded onto a self-propelled trolley, to a distance of 3 meters 55 centimeters.
The total weight of the cargo was 452 tons.
Hundreds of workers at the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, which has one of the largest foreign project portfolios in the world with 35 power units at different stages of implementation in 12 countries including India, cheered as the champion athletes moved the nuclear reactor.
The event was part of 'The Strongest Nation in the World' project, an initiative launched by power sports world record holder Mikhail Paller which also has the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin as it clubs sports with patriotism.
The athletes dedicated the record to all the workers in the nuclear industry who were celebrating their annual professional holiday.
"No one in the world has ever towed a nuclear reactor. But we wanted to not only set a world record but also draw attention to the fact that our country is the world leader in nuclear energy. We really have something to be proud of! At the same time, we strive to motivate our boys and girls to play more sports and lead a healthy lifestyle," said Mikhail Ivanov, the organiser of the record.
Among the previous achievements of the athletes of the 'Strongest Nation in the World' were the towing by three athletes (Mikhail Paller, Alexey Savchenko and Mikhail Ivanov) of a railway train with a total weight of 1096 tons at a distance of more than 9 meters and a container loader weighing more than 82 tons by Oksana Kosheleva at a distance of 55 centimeters.
Rosatom said that the VVER reactor vessel that "took part" in the record is not intended for installation at nuclear power plants. It is a "training" one – where the skills of non-destructive testing and other production operations are honed at the plant.
Also Read: India-Russia nuclear energy cooperation makes giant strides in Kudankulam
