.Eight dead, 54 missing, as turbine hall caves in at Russian hydropower station
At least eight people were killed and 54 missing after a turbine hall caved in and flooded at Russia's largest hydropower station today.
The accident caused some of the country's biggest steel and aluminium producers to switch to emergency power as officials sought to reassure local villagers the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam in Siberia would not burst.
Pictures from the scene showed a mass of twisted metal and smashed concrete with a crumpled turbine at the centre.
Prosecutors said early checks suggested the accident took place when an oil transformer blew up during repairs on a generating unit, causing a flood which brought down the walls and ceiling of the main turbine room.
An investigation into potential violation of safety rules was launched.
Three of the plant's 10 units were damaged but emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu said the front wall of the dam had not been breached.
"Towns and villages located downstream are not in danger," he told reporters, as he prepared to fly to the plant in Khakassia region, about 1,875 miles (3,000km) east of Moscow. "There is no threat of the dam's destruction."
Nine people were hurt and a team of divers was searching the flooded section of the dam for survivors. The dead and injured were workers employed at the plant, said RusHydro, the hydroelectricity company which runs it. There were fears the death toll could rise sharply with estimates of the number of missing varying from 54 to 67.
News agencies reported that people living in settlements below the station – which has a generating capacity of 6.4 gigawatts – had fled in panic after hearing of the accident at about 8.15am local time.
Two aluminium smelters owned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska's Rusal were forced to switch to power supplies from neighbouring regions after the accident. Steelmaker Evraz Group was also affected.
The Sayano-Shushenskaya plant stands astride the Yenisei river, which flows from Mongolia to the Arctic. It was opened in 1978 and is one of the biggest hydroelectric plants in the world.
RusHydro said the plant had been shut down. "Replacing the turbine will take from 18 months to two years," the company's acting head, Vasily Zubakin, told RIA Novosti. "The station's units that were not damaged could be restarted within 45 days."
Shoigi estimated the damage at "billions of roubles".
Guardian
The accident caused some of the country's biggest steel and aluminium producers to switch to emergency power as officials sought to reassure local villagers the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam in Siberia would not burst.
Pictures from the scene showed a mass of twisted metal and smashed concrete with a crumpled turbine at the centre.
Prosecutors said early checks suggested the accident took place when an oil transformer blew up during repairs on a generating unit, causing a flood which brought down the walls and ceiling of the main turbine room.
An investigation into potential violation of safety rules was launched.
Three of the plant's 10 units were damaged but emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu said the front wall of the dam had not been breached.
"Towns and villages located downstream are not in danger," he told reporters, as he prepared to fly to the plant in Khakassia region, about 1,875 miles (3,000km) east of Moscow. "There is no threat of the dam's destruction."
Nine people were hurt and a team of divers was searching the flooded section of the dam for survivors. The dead and injured were workers employed at the plant, said RusHydro, the hydroelectricity company which runs it. There were fears the death toll could rise sharply with estimates of the number of missing varying from 54 to 67.
News agencies reported that people living in settlements below the station – which has a generating capacity of 6.4 gigawatts – had fled in panic after hearing of the accident at about 8.15am local time.
Two aluminium smelters owned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska's Rusal were forced to switch to power supplies from neighbouring regions after the accident. Steelmaker Evraz Group was also affected.
The Sayano-Shushenskaya plant stands astride the Yenisei river, which flows from Mongolia to the Arctic. It was opened in 1978 and is one of the biggest hydroelectric plants in the world.
RusHydro said the plant had been shut down. "Replacing the turbine will take from 18 months to two years," the company's acting head, Vasily Zubakin, told RIA Novosti. "The station's units that were not damaged could be restarted within 45 days."
Shoigi estimated the damage at "billions of roubles".
Guardian
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