Engineering Ethics

Introduction The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, an industrial man-made disaster that occurred on August 17, 2009, is the largest ever disaster at a hydropower facility in Russia and one of the most significant in the history of the world's hydropower industry. The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station on the Yenisei River is the largest hydroelectric power plant in Russia and one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world. The height of the dam is 245 m; 10 radial-axial hydraulic units with a capacity of 640 MW are located in the turbine hall. The installed capacity of the HPP is 6400 MW. At the time of the accident, the station was carrying a load of 4100 MW, out of 10 hydroelectric units were in operation. At 8:13 local time on August 17, 2009, hydroelectric unit No. 2 suddenly collapsed, with significant volumes of water flowing through the mine of the hydroelectric unit under high pressure. The power plant personnel, who were in the turbine room, heard a loud bang in the area of hydroelectric unit No. 2 and saw the release of a powerful column of water. Streams of water quickly flooded the machine room and the rooms below it. All hydroelectric units of the hydroelectric power station were flooded, while short circuits occurred on the operating hydroelectric generators, which disabled them. There was a complete load shedding of the hydroelectric power station, which led, among other things, to a power outage of the station itself. A light and sound alarm was triggered on the central control panel of the station, after which the control was de-energized - operational communication, power supply of lighting, automation and alarm devices disappeared. Automatic systems stopping the hydraulic units worked only on the hydraulic unit No. 5, the guide vane of which was automatically closed. The gates on the water inlets of other hydraulic units remained open, and water continued to flow through the water lines to the turbines, which led to the destruction of hydraulic units No. 7 and 9 - the stators and crosspieces of the generators were severely damaged. The walls and ceilings of the turbine hall in the area of hydraulic units No. 2, 3, 4 were completely destroyed by streams of water and scattering debris of hydraulic units. Hydraulic units No. 3, 4 and 5 were littered with debris of the turbine hall. Those station employees who had such an opportunity quickly left the scene of the accident. Due to the loss of power supply, the gates could only be closed.....

A case study:

“Overview of the accident at the Sayano –Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station”

Russian Federation

1)Charles B. Fleddermann. “Engineering Ethics”, 4th ed. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited, 2013.

2) R.Sh. Alzhanov, E.N. Bellendir. Destruction of hydroelectric unit No-2 of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP: reasons and lessons M. 2013. (Russian edition)

3) O.K. Voronkov Foundation of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP: structure, properties, condition // Hydraulic engineering. - 2010. - No. 10. (Russian edition)