New clinic and proton building at Radiumhospitalet

Cooling distribution ensures life-saving treatment

The new proton therapy building will house the highly advanced equipment required to offer proton therapy – a new type of radiation treatment for cancer. There are three treatment machines, one of which is dedicated to research. For the machines to function, both the building and the machines must be continuously cooled. The quality of the materials, equipment, and work provided by AF Energi is therefore crucial and is ensured through testing in the lab, at the factory, and during the test and commissioning phases on the construction site

 

Energisentral til proton – og klinikkbygg

AF Energi is constructing energy hubs that produce their own cooling, as well as extracting heat from existing buildings and district heating.

The proton center has a total cooling capacity of 1.13 MW, which is exclusively used to cool the proton therapy machines and their associated systems. Additionally, AF Energi is also building the energy center for the new clinic building, which has a cooling capacity of 3.2 MW.

The cooling produced here is distributed to the remaining buildings, including through data room coolers and DX units for UPS and ICT rooms, as well as to patient and treatment rooms via fan coils and cooling coils.

A total of eight cooling machines, using ammonia as the refrigerant, will be installed. Eight dry coolers are also placed in the building. Due to the potential consequences of a system failure, the system is designed to always have an extra machine in reserve to ensure continuous operation.

 

Using Ammonia as a Refrigerant

The advantage of ammonia is that it is a natural, efficient, and environmentally friendly refrigerant (GWP and ODP = 0). Part of the excess heat generated in the cooling process is recovered for heating domestic water, while the rest is expelled through the large dry cooling system on the roof. Working with ammonia also requires risk assessments and safety measures.

It requires careful planning of the final phase and interfaces to get the machines and systems operational. In this project, it is especially important that all safety components and necessary safety systems are taken care of.

Sigmund Bakke is the project manager and Kamilla Plaszko is the assistant project manager. A total of seven employees from AF Energi worked on the project, which was completed in April 2024.

 

– One major advantage in this project was that we were able to lock in the design of the energy center early, giving us ample time to plan and facilitate prefab," says Sigmund Bakke.

– For the cooling distribution, we initially planned for 15% prefab but ended up with 65% prefab. For the energy centers, we planned for 65%, but through good collaboration with the customer and consultant, we managed to increase this to over 90%," he explains.

The biggest advantages of prefab are that many work hours are moved from the construction site to the factory. This provides safer working conditions and fewer disruptions, leading to more efficient work. This results in lower costs for the builder, less waste, and safer work on the construction site.

Contract Size

Energy centers: NOK 47,575,449 excl. VAT.

Cooling distribution: NOK 38,908,649 excl. VAT.