The total number of people confirmed dead following the accident on 17 August is 73, and two workers are still missing.
The accident destroyed three of the RusHydro plant’s 10 units, six suffered varying degrees of damage and one was not in operation and undamaged. No official cause has yet been given for the accident but it is understood that there was a hydraulic shock focused on one of the 640MW units – No 2.
At the site, work is still underway to remove wreckage.
RusHydro is holding discussions with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a loan to help the rebuilding work at the 6.4GW facility, which could take up to three years.
The Ministry of Energy is also seeking Ruble 9.6B (US$307M) in funds from its 2010 budget to be approved for the reconstruction work. It has estimated that the total cost could be more than Ruble 40B (US$1.28B).
Sayano-Shushenskaya is the utility’s biggest plant and is located on the Yenisei river at the foot of a 242m high concrete arch gravity dam. The dam was unaffected by the accident.
RusHydro said that inflow to the reservoir is 2450m3/sec and it is spilling 3055m3/sec. The level of the reservoir is approximately 2m below the normal level of 539m.
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