OREANDA-NEWS. August 17, 2009. Emergency work is continuing at JSC RusHydro's Sayano-Sushenskaya HPP site located in Khakassia, reported the press-centre of RusHydro.
 
At 4:15 am Moscow time, as a result of a powerful shock (which has preliminarily been labeled as a hydro-shock) -- the cause of which is still under investigation -- the second turbine at the HPP was destroyed, the seventh and ninth turbines suffered extensive damage, and a portion of the turbine room was damaged as well.
 
According to preliminary information received from the site, eight people (all employees of the HPP or employees of contractors operating at the site) have died as a result of the accident. Eight additional people have been hospitalized, and search-and-rescue operations continue. The identification process for victims of the accident is ongoing.
 
At 5:20 am Moscow time, due to joint efforts by operating staff at the HPP and the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, the emergency gates for all turbines at the upper pool of the site have been closed and water inflow has stopped.
 
At present, all 11 gates of the water-spill dam have been partially opened. Water inflow is currently at a level of 2200 - 2400 cubic meters, which is being fully discharged "idly" through water spills.
 
No damage to the dam itself or its hydro-technical facilities have been identified, and Switchgear-220 and Switchgear-500 have not been affected. There is no danger to Russian residents living downstream from the dam. The Siberian Office of the Inter-regional Dispatching Service is working to ensure uninterrupted power supply to Siberian consumers by switching up reserves.
 
Currently, active efforts are underway to restore the needs of the HPP. Once the turbine room has been dried, there will be a more extensive examination of damages as well as an investigation into the causes of the accident. The Chairman of the Khakassia Government V. Zimin and RusHydro's Acting CEO V. Zubakin are currently at the site of the accident.

The installed capacity of the Sayano-Sushenskaya HPP is 6,400 MW t, with an average long-term production of approximately 24 billion KWt/year, which is. The HPP's retaining structure is a concrete dam of the arch-gravity type.