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Putin agrees to disband committee over Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP disaster

Already in 2010 the four least damaged hydropower units were restored at the hydropower plant

SETTLEMENT CHERYOMISHKI (Khakassia), August 27 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin found it possible to terminate the work of the governmental committee for the cleanup of the aftermath of a man-made disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, as the main tasks for the restoration of the hydropower station are fulfilled.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, who heads this committee since 2009, when he occupied the post of the Deputy Prime Minister, has made a proposal to this effect on Tuesday.

“I agree with you, we should continue the work in a routine and normal mode, the government, the RusHydro Company should arrange this work, I ask the minister to take it into account. We will terminate the activity of the committee,” the President said.

He thanked Sechin for the work done and thanked those who worked directly at the hydropower station and settled social problems, particularly Khakassia’s leader Viktor Zimin and the road workers, who participated in the project.

Putin recalled that the restoration of the hydropower station after the man-made disaster had three stages: emergency works, the restoration of the work of several hydropower units and finally a deep overhaul of the hydropower station. He noted that the work of the third stage are being done, noting that it can be stated that “the restoration in terms of electric power output is completed.”

The president noted that before the man-made disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant eight of ten hydropower units were operational, but now six new hydropower units are in operation and they yield a quite sufficient power output. One more hydropower unit will be put into operation before the end of this year, and the last three hydropower units should be commissioned in December 2014, he went on to say.

Putin also noted that in general it was planned to allocate about 41 billion rubles for the restoration and modernization of the hydropower station, and now 35.3 billion rubles were used.

Along with the proposal to terminate the work of this committee over the attainment of its goals head of the committee Igor Sechin also asked the President to give the instruction to the Federal Grid Company “to synchronize the scheme of power distribution at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower station and the United Power Grid of Siberia in order to finalize all works at the electric substations related with the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant.”

He also noted that necessary conclusions were drawn upon the aftermath of the man-made disaster in order to revise the safety rules. In particular, more than 100 novelties related with protecting facilities of the hydropower station from possible emergency situations were introduced.

Sechin reported about the social aid to injured people and the families of the victims of the man-made hydro disaster. So, RusHydro allocated 185 million rubles as material aid. Necessary allocations were also made by regional authorities and the special aid coordinating council.

The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant is being restored after a major man-made disaster, which broke out on August 17, 2009. On that day the second hydropower unit was destroyed in the engine hall under a strong pressure of a large water inflow. The load on the hydropower plant dropped to zero almost immediately and the constantly inflowing water has flooded the whole engine hall for a short period of time. The second, 7th and 10th hydropower units were destroyed completely, the first, third, 4th and 5th hydropower units were cramped with metallic structures from the engine hall, the 8th and 10th hydropower units were damaged inside.

Already in 2010 the four least damaged hydropower units were restored at the hydropower plant. After this RusHydro launched the second stage of restoring the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, during which it is planned to install ten absolutely new hydropower units (including the replacement of four machines, which were put back into operation three years ago).

At present, six hydropower units with an aggregate capacity of 2,840 MW are in commercial operation that makes 60% of designed capacity of the hydropower plant.

The restoration and overhaul of the hydropower plant is planned to complete in 2014.