POWER December 2010 - 49

PLANT SAFETY
From 1978 to 1987, all 10 units were
placed into operation in turn. Originally, Unit
1 and Unit 2 had a rated capacity of 155 to
400 MW and a rated head of 60 to 140 m,
but newer units later replaced these. In actual
operating practice, the generating capacity
of SSH was limited to 4,400 MW because of
a weak connection with the local electrical
grid, which consists of four 500-kV transmission
lines. SSH, in coordination with the
Bratsk hydro power plant (18 x 250 MW),
located on the Yenisei tributary from the Angara
River, performs secondary control of reactive
power and frequency for the Siberian
power grid. The Mayna hydro plant, located
21 km downstream from SSH, performs tail
water reregulating for the plant.
The Blame Game
The official report on the incident was released
by the Russian Federal Service for
Ecological, Technological, and Nuclear
Supervision, or Rostekhnadzor (roughly
the equivalent of the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration but with
added nuclear and environmental safety
protection responsibilities) on October 3,
1. Global leader. The Russian Federation
leans heavily on hydroelectric power plants
located on the Yenisei River and its tributaries
for power to run its industrial facilities. The
6,400-MW Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro plant
(bottom left) was to be the largest in the world
when construction began in 1961. The 10th
and last 640-MW hydro turbine was placed
into service in 1987. Before the accident, the
plant was the sixth-largest hydroelectric plant
in the world. Courtesy: Alexander Boyko
2009. The report blames six officials who
were " conductive to the disaster, " including
Anatoly Chubais, former CEO of Unified
Energy Systems (UES). " Under order No.
690 dated Dec. 13, 2000, . . . UES chairman
Anatoly Chubais approved the act of the
central commission to launch the SayanoShushenskaya
hydropower complex without
a comprehensive evaluation of the data on
Sayano-Shushenskaya's operations, " says
the report released by the Federal Inspection
Service for the Environment and Technology.
Chubais' statement in response was
posted on his website: " I'm responsible for
everything that took place in the field during
my time in office. " He went on to say
that the plant had already been running for
more than 20 years when he signed the papers
and that he was under great pressure
to make those decisions in 2000 because
shutting down equipment while waiting for
maintenance funding would have " meant a
catastrophe for the economy of Siberia and
millions of residents there. " No explanation
was offered as to why this certification was
finally signed more than 20 years after the
plant began service.
From July 2008 until the accident, RusHydro
was managed by Vasily Zubakin, who
was included in the " List of persons bearing
responsibility for accident disaster prevention
on Sayano-Shushenskaya " along with 18 other
RusHydro executives. (This list is a chapter
of the official 140-page accident investigation
report, although the report is no longer available
on the Rostekhnadzor website.)
The industrial watchdog's chief, Nikolai
Kutin, described the service's responsibility
in the disaster probe: " For our part, we study
the technical causes of the accident that were
in the making for a long time, and that is why
you will find a relatively large number of
names, both from the plant management and
RusHydro, as well as senior officials who
made decisions affecting the stability and
security of the plant's operation. " In a televised
statement, Kutin summarized what had
happened the day of the accident. He said
part of a turbine unit (for Unit 2) weighing
1,500 metric tons had flown 14 meters into
the air after the screws (anchor bolts) holding
it down had come loose, causing flooding
and debris that killed dozens of workers in
seconds (Figure 3).
2. Beautiful curve. The Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro Power Plant is of the arch-gravity
design and measures 1,066 m long. The turbine gallery is located at the base of the 242-m-high
dam. Courtesy: Kirill Elesin, EKRA-Sibir Ltd.
3. Turbine destruction. Before and after photos of the plant turbine gallery. Courtesy: Kirill
Elesin, EKRA-Sibir Ltd.
-City
-Hydroplant
December 2010 | POWER
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POWER December 2010

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