Sayano Shushenskaya Accident

Accident at the Russian Biggest Hydroelectric Powerplant: Sayano-Shushenskaya, in Siberia.

Music:
The Black Isle (Byrne/Eno Remix)
by (dj) morsanek
http://morsanek.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/markemorse

Album: Our Lives In The Bush Of Disquiet
by Marc Weidenbaum
http://disquiet.com/
http://www.archive.org/details/OurLivesInTheBushOfDisquiet

Powerplant data:
Number of Units: 10.
Turbine Type: Francis (16 blades).
Rated Power: 650 MW each one.
Rated Discharge per Unit: 358,5 m³/s.
Nominal Speed: 142,86 rpm.
Net Head: 194 m.
Operation Date: 1978.
Runner Weight: 156 ton.
Runner Diameter: 6,77 m.

One of the world's largest hydro-electric plants, this dam is 245 m (800 ft) high and stretches 1 km (0.6 miles) across the Yenisei river.
Opened in 1978, the station provides a quarter of RusHydro output and is a major power supplier to at least two smelters owned by United Company RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer.
The hydroelectric power station is located on the Yenisei River, near Sayanogorsk in Khakassia, Russia. Before the accident, it was the largest power plant in Russia and the sixth-largest hydroelectric plant in the world.

The accident:

ACCORDING TO THE OFFICIAL REPORT, DATED FIRST DAYS OF OCTOBER, THE COLLAPSE WAS DUE TO FATIGUE AND VIBRATION OF THE TURBINE.

At 08h 13m local time (00h 13m GMT) on 17 August 2009, the station suffered a catastrophic "pressure surge" in turbine known as a "waterhammer". The sudden water pressure surge resulted in the ejection of turbine 2 with all equipment, a total weight some 900 tons, from its seat.
Turbines 7 and 9 also suffered from severe damage, while the turbine room roof fell on and damaged turbines 3, 4 and 5. Turbine 6, which was in scheduled repair at the time of accident, received only minor damage as it was the only one of the station's 10 turbines that did not receive electrical damage due to shorting of transformers, and it will be restarted as soon as possible.
Water immediately flooded the engine and turbine rooms and caused a transformer explosion.
On 23 August 2009, authorities said 69 people were found dead while 6 people are still listed as missing. Efforts to pump flood water from the engine room and complete a search for the missing workmen are expected to take 3 to 8 days.

Consequences of the accident:
It will cost at least $310 million.
A long time to repair the damages.
The production of more than 500,000 tons of aluminum will be lost.
Oil slick is travelling down the river.
It is not clear how many people were potentially affected by the accident.
The plant satisfied 10% of Siberias energy needs.
Aluminum smelters consumed over 70% of the energy generated by the power plant.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Sayano%E2%80%93Shushenskaya_hydroelectric_p...
http://itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14255520&PageNum=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1207093/Accident-Russias-bi...
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre57h1qb-us-russia-dam/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8204860.stm
http://englishrussia.com/?p=4853
http://www.1tv.ru

Data taken from Euler Cruz & Rafael Cesário presentation (Brazilian consultants).

---------------------------

Music:
The Black Isle (Byrne/Eno Remix)
by (dj) morsanek
http://morsanek.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/markemorse
Album: Our Lives In The Bush Of Disquiet
by Marc Weidenbaum
http://disquiet.com/
http://www.archive.org/details/OurLivesInTheBushOfDisquiet

---------------------------

CreativeCommons license
BY Attribution
NC NonCommercial
SA ShareAlike

Antolín Martínez A.
September 2009

http://sites.google.com/site/antolintinez

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Sayano
• Shushenskaya
• Hydroelectric
• Powerplant
• Accident
• Water
• Hammer
• Waterhammer
• Dam
• Francis

[fatwalletboy2]

how this stop water running through. were the controls to the inlet valves away from the dam or did the level in the lake behind fall to the valve level?

[antolintinez]

@fatwalletboy2 Apparently it happened because a structural damage, due the fatigue, of the bolts in the turbine area. A russian consultant told us one time that they don't know the real cause of this accident and another one happened years ago. Perhaps some problems mixed together.

[gregordiesel]

Nice pictures of machinery! Great video! Please give me the song name!

[antolintinez]

@gregordiesel Thank you. It is in the credits and in the attached info. You can find it in archive dot org and in disquiet dot com. Regards.

[aurora990]

first Chernobyl. now Sayano.  two major power plant accidents. has Russia learned from Chernobyl and Sayano when it comes to power plant safety and integrity? even if it was an uncontrollable event? that is what people need to know.

[antolintinez]

@aurora990 Well, the accidents always will occur. We are not perfect, and our actions and works (and ideas) are not perfect neither. What we are doing everyday better is to avoid most of them and to handle them. Cheers!

[reemanwells37f]

Your video is a favorite on Saudi Arabia

[Camerameister]

@aurora990 There is no comparison between Chernobyl and Sayano–Shushenskaya. Read the reports of the findings on this accident and decide for yourself if they have learnt. They are available if you look for them.

[Robkat3751]

the amount of destruction is mind boggling.

[aurora990]

@antolintinez I see.