Posted on 09/02/2009 12:50:34 PM PDT by kidd
The death toll from the catastrophic flood that engulfed Russia's biggest hydroelectric power station rose to 17 on Thursday but 58 people were still reported missing, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
However, there is a powerpoint presentation, with lots of photos of the damage that is really worth looking at, and is far more informative than the Yahoo article.
See the powerpoint presentation at http://www.taproot.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/accidentrussiahydro.pps
Had me freaked out that a dam had burst. Relieved that it’s not a new event. Horrible event, nonetheless. Is this as bad as if the Hoover Dam’s power production was destroyed? Or is it worse?
Thank you for posting that very good slideshow. It sure shows the depth of the disaster.
No, the dam didn’t burst, but the powerhouse looks like the WTC after 9-11.
This plant is essential to Russian aluminum production and is key to the Siberian power supply.
I posted this (even though it happened 10 days ago) because I did not hear about it in the news, and FR is a great place to come for information.
Fascinating! Thanks for the link.
I don’t understand how the quick closing of wicket gates could cause so much trouble. Don’t they make these smaller, individual gates, collectively strong enough to handle the pressure? Also, why don’t they apparently anchor the rotor housing down? It seems they only relied on the weight of the rotor to keep it in place.
The moving water in the penstocks has a HUGE amount of kinetic energy. If you immediately stop the flow the energy has to go somewhere. Kind of like a semi hitting a wall a 70 miles an hour.
As a curtain wall fabricator and installer for several TVA Hydro,steam, and nuclear plants I marveled at the beautiful aluminum space frame reinforced curtain wall. It was a beautiful ans sophisticated piece of work. The sections damaged are trashed and mangled on the turbine room floor.
One of my co-workers sent me that PowerPoint presentation yesterday. I found it absolutely astounding, especially after having visited the powerhouse at Boulder Dam. The Russian facility is significantly larger in both size and power output, at least based on the comparable size of the rotor in photos and what I saw in AZ/NV.
It is also very interesting that the info I got yesterday was the first I had heard of this and I believe I am fairly well-read on current events. This is the first linked article I’ve seen.
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