At the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, another meeting is held of the emergency operations centre of the Ministry of Power of the Russian Federation

The meting was attended by the heads of the centre, Deputy Minister for Power of the Russian Federation Stanislav Svetlitskiy, executive secretary of the Government Commission Andrey Malyshev, head of Rostekhnadzor Nikolay Kutin, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC RusHydro Evgeniy Dod, and representatives of a number of Russian departments, design and construction organisations, scientific institutes and equipment manufacturers.
The meeting also looked at the results of the field performance of Hydro Unit No. 6, preparation of Hydro Unit No. 5 for connection to the network, performance of work on the launch complex, including hydro units No. 4 and No. 3, fulfilment of design work and results of the autumn and winter period.
In his speech, Yuri Gorbenko, Member of the Management Board of JSC RusHydro, stated that the work on restoring the hydro-power plant and on building the shore spillway at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP was currently under way round the clock, involving 2630 people and 107 units of freight vehicles, cranes and special equipment.
The speaker focused particularly on renovation of the Sayanogorsk — Sayano-Shushesnkaya HPP road, along which it is intended to bring up superheavy equipment. The design for reconstruction of the road will be drawn up and its cost specified after the schemes for delivering equipment for installation at the HPP are agreed.
Hydro unit No. 6, which has been in field performance operation since 24 February, is working in the basic regime with maximum loading. At the same time, the electrical parameters of the main and auxiliary equipment, the vibration status and the temperature regime of the unit are being monitored. So far, its technical status is in full compliance with the requirements of the regulatory and technical documentation.
Preparation of hydro unit No. 5 for industrial operations has included completion of the repair and start up operations of the main and auxiliary equipment, the automatic control, excitation, relay protection, vibration and thermal control systems. The hydro unit has undergone testing in all the main operating regimes, while the constant monitoring of its electrical parameters, vibration status and temperature regimes has also demonstrated full compliance with the requirements of the regulatory and technical documentation.
Within the scope of preparation of the start-up complex of hydro units No. 4 and No. 3, expert examination has been carried out of the state of the main parts and systems of the hydro units. Flow chamber of hydro unit No. 4 was dried out and repair work is under way. Hydro unit No. 3’s rotor has been disassembled from the main generator, whereas fault detection and repairs are now being carried out on the auxiliary equipment.
Hydro unit No. 2 has been disassembled and the parts are now being broken down and removed. All the disassembly work on hydro unit No. 2 will be completed by April 2010. Restoration is now in progress of the construction units of hydro units No. 7 and No. 9. At hydro unit No. 9, work is under way to install the reinforcement and casing for the bollards beneath the stator and the generator pit and the technical water supply, oil supply and air supply pipes of the unit are being restored.
The report on operations during the autumn and winter period of 2009-2010 noted that the task had, in general, been fulfilled without any accidents or emergencies. The research and calculations performed by relevant institutes (NIIES and VNIIG named after B.E.Vedeneev) had confirmed the adequacy of the measures taken to ensure safe operation of the HPP at non-design regimes for passage of the water through the service spillway.
The most difficult situation during this past winter with respect to ice formation occurred on the plant’s service spillway trestle, where the ice reached a height of 25 metres, but the load on the trestle blocks never exceeded the permissible values. The maximum depth of the snow and ice mixture on the roof of the engine room never went over 20 centimetres.
Idle run start-up and loading of hydro units No. 6 and No. 5 of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP has increased the speed of the reservoir drawdown to 30 centimetres a day, the forecast being that the estimated values of the level of the reservoir before high water will be reached by 1 May.