Siberia--Para pejabat berwenang Rusia memperingatkan kemungkinan 64 pekerja yang terjebak di pembangkit listrik tenaga air (PLTA) Siberia sudah tewas. Para pekerja ini terjebak setelah terjadi ledakan di PLTA terbesar Rusia ini. Dua belas orang sudah dipastikan tewas akibat ledakan PLTA Sayano-Shushenskaya yang terletak di Siberia.
Menteri Urusan Bencana Rusia Sergei Shoigu mengatakan sekelompok penyelam dikerahkan untuk mencari pekerja yang masih selamat di ruang turbin yang dipenuhi air.
Penyebab ledakan masih belum diketahui, namun laporan-laporan media mengatakan para penyelidik yakin satu transformer meledak saat diperbaiki.
Pemilik PLTA ini mengatakan banjir disebabkan meningkatnya tekanan di pipa air. "Sayang sekali kami tidak memiliki berita yang baik. Kami masih belum tahu nasih 60 orang itu," ujar Shoigu seperti dikutip televisi pemerintah Rusia.
"Lokasi di atas air dan yang sudah dipenuhi air kini sedang dijelajahi. Kami menunggu pengerahan satu robot yang bisa bekerja di bawah air," ujarnya.
RusHydry, pemilik PLTA ini, mengatakan rincian peta tiga dimensi yang menunjukkan lokasi para pekerja saat ledakan terjadi juga digunakan dalam operasi penyelamatan itu.
Bocoran minyak
Pada hari Senin, dua pegawai berhasil diselamatkan dari wilayah dibawah ruangan turbin oleh para penyelam.
Namun direktur sementara RusHydro mengatakan tidak berharap banyak akan nasib sisa pekerja yang belum ditemukan. "Kemungkinan besar para pekerja tidak akan ditemukan di lokasi yang kebanjiran itu," ujar Vasily Zubakin seperti dikutip kantor berita Rusia.
Hari Rabu sudah ditetapkan sebagai hari berkabung resmi di wilayah pegunungan Khakassia yang terpencil tempat PLTA - salah satu yang terbesar di negara itu - terletak.
Kecelakaan ini menyebabkan bocoran minyak terapung di sungai Yenisei, yang mengalir ke utara menuju Antartika lewat Siberia. Para pejabat mengatakan kota yang berada di hilir PLTA itu tidak terancam oleh bocoran minyak tersebut.
RusHydro mengatakan kerusakan akibat ledakan bisa mencapai "miliaran rubel" dan akan menghabiskan waktu beberapa bulan untuk diperbaiki.
Pembangkit listrik ini terletak di Khakhasia, Siberia, sekitar 3.000 km sebelah timur Moskow. Bendungan di atasnya memiliki ketinggian 245m dengan luas 1km di sungai Yenisei.
PLTA ini diresmikan tahun 1978 dan memproduksi seperempat total produk listrik RusHydro dan merupakan pemasok listrik ke setidaknya dua pabrik milik Rusal, produsen alumunium terbesar di dunia. Sumber www.republika.co.id/
English Version
Up to 76 workers are now believed dead after an accident during repair work at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant flooded an engine room.
Twelve of the workers are confirmed dead, and authorities are searching for the 64 still missing - but the plant's owners have admitted it is 'unlikely' they will be found alive.
The cause of the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in southern Siberia was unclear. Federal investigators said a transformer exploded during repair works, destroying walls and the ceiling in an engine room where turbines are located and causing the room to flood.
The plant's owner said the flooding occurred due to a pressure surge in water pipes.
Rescue workers were searching the cavernous engine room for the missing after 12 bodies were pulled out, said Roman Dotsov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in Siberia.
Some of the dead had drowned and others were crushed by debris, he said. There were said to be 14 survivors, who had been hospitalized with a range of injuries, including concussions and exposure.
The accident shut down the power station, which supplies several major aluminum plants. The government said electricity supplies from other power plants were being re-routed to help cover the shortfall, but power cuts were reported throughout the region.
The plant's dam, a towering structure that stretches about a kilometre (more than half a mile) across the Yenisei River, was not damaged and towns downstream were in no danger, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
The accident produced an oil spill, however, and the slick was floating downriver. The slick had grown to cover as much as 25 square kilometres (10 square miles), the Natural Resources Ministry said.
Two of the plant's 10 turbines were destroyed and a third was seriously damaged, said Vasily Zubakin, acting chief executive of the plant's owner, RusHydro. He said the company was still assessing the state of the remaining seven.
Shoigu said the repairs would be difficult. ‘We're probably talking about years rather than months to restore three of the 10 turbines,’ he said on state-run television.
The world's largest aluminum producer, Rusal, was operating as usual, with its smelters being powered from other plants, company spokeswoman Yelena Shuliveistrova said
The company was in talks with the government about possibly reducing output to free up energy supplies needed elsewhere in the region, Rusal said in a statement.
Half of the residential buildings in Abakan, the capital of the Khakassia region where the plant is located, were left without power. Residents were stocking up on basic supplies and gasoline, Mayor Nikolai Bulakin said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Abakan, home to 160,000 people, is located about 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of the plant. Power shortages also were reported in the Tomsk and Kemerovo regions.
It was not immediately clear how many people were potentially affected by the accident.
The Sayano-Shushinskaya plant was working at record capacity in June and July due to high water levels in the river, RusHydro reported last week. The plant went into operation in 1978.
The plant satisfies 10 per cent of Siberia's energy needs, according to Russian media reports.
Aging infrastructure has long been regarded as a key obstacle to Russia's development.
Analysts have warned that Russia needs to boost its power production significantly to meet the growing demand of industrial producers or it would face regular power shortages as soon as several years from now. Monday's accident put these plans in jeopardy.
RusHydro's stocks were down more than 7 per cent on the MICEX on Monday morning when the stock exchange suspended trading for its shares.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1207093/Accident-Russias-biggest-hydroelectric-plant-leaves-seven-workers-dead.html#ixzz0OgcQbySz
