Fatal Explosion At Russian Hydroelectric Dam 336
stadium writes "An oil-filled transformer exploded at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in Siberia, destroying three turbines and bringing down the ceiling of the turbine hall, which then violently flooded. The dam itself did not sustain any damage. It is unclear how many people were killed, but with 12 confirmed deaths and as many as 64 still missing (all presumed dead), this is a serious incident. The huge transformer had enough oil in it to produce a three-mile-long oil spill slowly moving downriver. BBC News reports with three separate videos. The dam produces a quarter of the total energy of RusHydro (whose stock thus took a steep dive at London Stock Exchange) and also feeds the world's largest aluminum smelter. The damages will take years to repair."
Re:Olde News? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hrmmm.. (Score:2, Interesting)
To me this 'exploding transformer' seems strange. I mean, the transformers we use where I work are filled with non-explosive mineral oil. Something seriously bad must have happened to this transformer. I mean, so bad I can't even imagine. Looking at the amount of destruction I just don't understand how it's possible. Any electrical engineers out there who can offer some insight?
Re:Olde News? (Score:5, Interesting)
The PCB is a dielectric and coolant, *not* a fuel. Oil is used in a huge number of areas as a material and not as a fuel.
There is actually a school of thought among some in the chemical industry that oil is too precious to waste as a fuel. Think about it how it is used in medicine. Disposable plastics in medicine are critical in stopping infections. Precursor chemicals, often starting as petroleum, are used in pharmaceuticals.
In other areas petroleum products are important; e.g. tires, light weight building materials, glues, paints, solvents etc.
Just FYI.
Re:Hrmmm.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Water is also rather non-explosive, but if you manage to contain a high temperature and pressure and then release it, it will behave in a rather explosive way.
The Mythbusters did an episode with a water heater, and they managed to give a midsized water heater something like 40 seconds of airtime.
Re:Olde News? (Score:5, Interesting)
PCBs are a lot cheaper than the alternatives, and it's a lot easier to justify storing it in a transformer than using it somewhere external. Transformers that are working properly and maintained are sealed quite well and unless one blows up (like this) there's no danger or health hazards to anyone.
Pity the folk that get to work on those transformers though. I know someone that was looking for a building to move his small business into, and found a cheap place that had these rows of benches all around its inside perimiter... heavy benches, with 2-3ft holes all the way down the row. What are whose for? They didn't know what the former owner used them for. (suuuuure they didn't) Turned out to be formerly owned (several owners ago in VERY short succession) by the city's electric works. It was a building for transformer repair for the units you see up on the telephone poles. Place was loaded with PCBs, soaked into the wood of the beams, benches, and walls, even the dirt was a love canal. He almost got stuck with it too. In those games, whoever "discovers" (formally) the contamination while in ownership is left "holding the bag" and is responsible for cleanup. That "bargain" would have bankrupt him and then some. The guy that clued him in was even cleaning off his shoes after they left the building, it was baaad.
Re:It is not the volts (Score:1, Interesting)
Reminds me of this incident a while back in Florida, eventually popularized by YouTube: http://205.243.100.155/frames/longarc.htm#Blowup
The relief valves purging the boiling transformer oil (or BLEVE) that resulted from the overheating coils probably contributed to the extensive fire damage in that substation. A phase-to-phase short finally killed power to it, but it all began with a simple, untended failure of a couple of fuses...
Re:Roll out the crazies (Score:3, Interesting)
It was spectacularly beautiful before it was flooded; much like the Grand Canyon.
It is still spectacularly beautiful, I go boating for a week on it every year. Something I can't do at the Grand Canyon. /frank
Red Storm Rising (Score:4, Interesting)
Interesting that this got tagged !redstormrising. I wouldn't have though about it without that tag, it's a relatively obscure reference to something that happened in the beginning of the book (terrorists blow up an oil refinery in Russia, sparking WWIII). It is a pretty decent book though, unlike all of the later drivel that author pushed out.
Re:Hrmmm.. (Score:5, Interesting)
You need to understand, electricity is heavy shit. If you're talking about a large transformer at high voltage, it can explode catastrophically.
Arc blast at low voltage [youtube.com]
The mill I work at has had several such explosions over the past decade. In our case, it was probably related to the ridiculous amounts of particulate pollution in the open area where our transformers sit causing heat build-up which caused a breakdown of insulation causing an arc flash causing an explosion(Measures have been taken to prevent future failures). Thankfully, the original plant engineers understood that explosions ARE a possible failure mode of transformers, and placed them in areas where it would be unlikely for collateral damage to occur. The Russian dipshit who put the transformer in a place where it could destroy a water bearing wall and kill 12 people is probably feeling pretty bad about himself right now.
Re:Olde News? (Score:3, Interesting)
There's a site near where I live where for 40 years, the Ward Transformer Company [epa.gov] was contaminating the surrounding area with PCBs. They've been cleaning the dirt for over a year, with an estimated cost of $6,130,000. That's not a cost I'd want to buy. Good thing your friend was warned away from buying. Of course I think I'm paying for this $6 million cleanup with my taxes.
Re:Hrmmm.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Not an electrical engineer, but I worked for a power utility for a while...
As part of the induction I got to tour one of their biggest substations. The 330KV -> 115KV stepdown transformers are huge!
They're also separated from each other by concrete walls, and have a metre-high brick berm at the front so that if they do explode, they don't take out the ones to either side. There was also a 'backup' transformer at the end of the row, so that if one went bad they had one immediately to hand.
Re:Olde News? (Score:4, Interesting)
There have been some plastic-like substances made from biologically derived materials
Henry Ford was an early user of biologically based plastics, and I believe some of them made it to the Model T. Reference - Google books. [google.com.au]
Re:It is not the volts (Score:3, Interesting)
12,000 volts will not only kill you,
You're totally wrong... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil [wikipedia.org]
A person can channel huge voltages right across their heart if it's at a super high frequency and low current.
Just hypothetical here... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Russian dipshit who put the transformer in a place where it could destroy a water bearing wall and kill 12 people is probably feeling pretty bad about himself right now.
Perhaps you have more information than I, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the structural failure of the water bearing wall was created by a massive turbine ripping itself apart. If you watch the video, you hear the explosion some time after the water starts spraying everywhere. So apparently the concrete was compromised before the transformer exploded.
If I had to speculate, I'd say a structural failure of the concrete allowed much more water past the turbine blades; the corresponding increase in speed overloaded the transformer, causing it to explode. After the explosion, the lack of load on the turbine allowed it to exceed its rated speed, at which point it ripped itself apart causing even further damage.
It's a well known fact that concrete cracks. Perhaps the original engineers designed the spillway so that even with a fully open sluice and no load, the turbine speed would not destroy itself. I wonder if they considered the possibility of a large concrete failure allowing an essentially unlimited amount of water past the turbines.