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Putin urges mass checks after dam accident
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-20 23:19
The first victims of the accident were buried Wednesday in the nearby town of Cheryomushki, which has been deeply shaken because the whole families worked at the plant. Nikolai Shchip, covered head-to-toe in oil from a destroyed turbine, was blown away by the bursting water into the Yenisei River, but somehow made it to the shore, according to Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.
Another worker, Alexander Podkopayev, spent 15 agonizing hours in icy water at a flooded section of the plant, surviving thanks to a 10-centimer (4-inch) air space under the ceiling, according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. Authorities acknowledged days ago that people who are still missing are most likely dead. Sayano-Shushenskaya is Russia's largest power plant, providing 10 percent of Siberia's energy needs, and a key energy supplier for Siberian metallurgy. The accident caused power shortages in several towns and major factories, but by Wednesday the power supply in Siberia had been restored with the help of rerouted supplies from other power plants. Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said it would cost 40 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) to rebuild the power plant's engine room. Oleg Deripaska, director general of aluminum producer Rusal, toured the damaged plant Wednesday and talked with Russia's energy ministry and plant owner RusHydro about securing energy supplies during the upcoming repairs, which are expected to take up to two years. More than 70 percent of all the energy from the hydroelectric plant goes to four Rusal smelters, which are believed to be the company's most efficient plants. Rusal is the world's largest aluminum producer. The accident also produced an oil slick that stretched over 60 miles (100 kilometers) down the Yenisei.
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