Today (17 August) at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station in Siberia, which on power generation is the world’s fourth largest hydropower station, water ducts three and four collapsed, flooding part of the building.

The Russian government believes another 11 workers were also injured following the accident which stopped power generation at the plant.

The surrounding area, which is highly industrial, has been forced to source power from other locations.

The chief executive of Russia’s largest aluminum manufacturers RUSAL, Oleg Deripaska, who run several aluminium smelters in the area is considering cutting production as a result of the accident.

In a meeting, also attended by the minister for emergency situation, Sergey Shoygu, and chairman of the board of directors of RusHydro, Vyacheslav Sinyugin, cutting production was considered.

A spokesman for RUSAL said of the meeting this morning: “One of the issues discussed was a possibility to reduce the output at RUSAL’s smelters.

“This would create an additional reserve of energy required for the stable functioning of the region on the eve of the autumn-winter season when the load on the energy system increases.”

The cause of the accident is still being investigated but it appears a surge of water caused the ducts to burst, which flooded part of the station.

Luke Walsh

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