The Sayano-Shushenskaya dam accident - Destruction on an awesome scale. The Big Picture
Engineering on an awesome scale ... The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power dam is seen from above Cheryomushky, Russia on August 20, 2009. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Engineering on an awesome scale. Its pretty impressive stuff. Particularly when things go right.
But when they go wrong, destruction on an awesome scale is the result. Even the best risk mitigation processes aren't fail-safe.
"On August 17th, near Sayanogorsk in south central Russia, a catastrophic accident took place in the turbine and transformer rooms of the hydroelectric plant of the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam. The exact cause is still under investigation, but what is known so far is that a tremendous amount of water from the Yenisei River flooded the turbine room, causing at least one transformer explosion and extensive damage to all ten turbines, destroying at least three of them. 74 workers are known to have lost their lives in the accident, while one remains missing. Additionally, 40 tons of transformer oil were spilled into the river, killing an estimated 400 tons of trout in two fisheries. Investigators plan to release findings in two months, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a nationwide infrastructure inspection."
