The need to create state district power plants (abbreviated as GRES) arose a very long time ago. A huge part of residential and industrial premises every day needs electricity. That state district power station can almost completely satisfy this need. But sometimes emergency situations occur at power plants. There are many reasons, but the main one is equipment wear. The Reftinskaya state district power station, the accident on which brought a lot of problems, was no exception.
Briefly about Reftinsky power station
Reftinsky State District Power Plant is the largest thermal power plant in the entire Russian Federation. It is located in the Sverdlovsk region, 2.5 km from the village of Reftinsky.
The power plant capacity is 3800 MW. The main type of fuel is Ekibastuz coal with a calorific value of 16.3 MJ / kg. Fuel oil acts as starting fuel.
The state district power station was created to supply electricity to industrial areas of the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Perm and Chelyabinsk regions. The construction of the power plant began in 1963, in 1970 the first power unit was launched, and in 1980 the last one.
History of the power plant
Back in 1963, the future creators of the Reftinsky State District Power Plant landed near the city of Asbest. In such wilds, they were driven by a desire to find a site ideally suited for the construction of a power plant. And they found what they wanted: in the same year, the first peg was hammered into the ground there, marking the beginning of construction.
The Sverdlovsk Regional Committee zealously followed the way the power plant was being built. World experience, the best technical solutions of that time - everything possible was invested in the design of the building itself. March 1967 was marked by the laying of the first cubic meter of concrete in the foundation of the future power plant.
From 1970 to 1980, one after another, after a thorough check, the power units were launched. It was then that the whole country realized that this state district power station was the most impressive, because its capacity reached a record mark of 3800 MW. With such indicators, the power plant meets the needs of the entire Ural region.
Equipment Reftinskaya TPP
The power plant uses the following systems:
- Fuel supply. It is carried out by the delivery of coal by rail. Fuel is supplied to the station using a bulldozer. For storage of fuel oil, separate containers were allocated directly at the GRES warehouse.
- Water supply. On the territory of the power plant there is a pond designed for cooling systems. In addition, deep water intake is used.
- Hydro ash removal. Ash and slag are removed through specially designated pipes to waste disposal sites.
- Water treatment. For this purpose, the station has a desalination plant.
- Control and management system. It is carried out at the expense of boards with devices for regulating the operation of equipment. For every two blocks there is one shield.
- Gas cleaning system. To achieve gas purity, electrostatic precipitators are used, a list of which is publicly available.
What was the year 2006 for the workers of the power plant?
On the eve of 2007, no one could have predicted that the Reftinskaya TPP (the accident had shocked everyone) would suddenly fail. It was the end of December, the New Year’s atmosphere was already floating in the air, and suddenly there was an emergency. First, the tenth power unit collapsed, in addition, a fire occurred, the roof began to fall through. Next came the seventh and eighth blocks. And the ninth power unit was generally under repair.
Of course, these incidents significantly reduced the efficiency of the power plant. And the whole Sverdlovsk power system was under serious suspicion of insecurity.
According to the results received by the departmental commission, the damage that the power station suffered was determined, and it amounted to more than 237 million rubles. But no one had yet guessed that the accident at the Reftinskaya TPP in 2006 was far from the only and not the last case.
August 2016: what did he bring?
Man gets used to everything. That is, even when the power supply suddenly turned off in the settlements closest to the station, people reacted more grudgingly than frightened: “Again the accident at the Reftinskaya TPP - heads will fly …”. The systems of the Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions may well provide their regions independently, which they did by simply disconnecting from the main power system.
Given the generation of huge amounts of energy, it is not surprising that there is an excess. People may not have noticed the emergency situation at all. That is why only an ignorant person could be surprised at what was happening, saying something like: “Horror! Reftinskaya state district power station, accident is nonsense, it cannot be! ”
Due to the efficiency of the equipment protection system, everything was turned off. This practically did not affect the performance of the power plant systems. There were no injuries either.
How did the accident affect the combat readiness of local military units?
According to reliable sources, even the accident at the Reftinskaya TPP on 08.22.2016 could not in some way upset the work of military units. Disconnections from the electric power source were present, but at the first signs of a possible disconnection from the main power supply system, all objects of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were connected to stand-alone autonomous sources.
This situation did not constitute an unsolvable problem. Despite the interruptions (which, incidentally, also occurred in the territories of the Altai Republic, Khakassia, Buryatia, etc.), the combat readiness of military units remained unchanged.
Which companies are still affected?
Sibur still suffered some losses. Its member company Tomskneftekhim was forced to suspend production; the reason for this was the frequency deviation during the accident at the Reftinskaya TPP. In other words, there was a voltage drop. Thanks to the prompt response of the protective systems, all equipment was temporarily turned off and therefore kept intact.
Even in such an emergency situation, the employees of Tomskneftekhim were not at a loss and did not begin to raise a panic. A check was immediately carried out on the existence of a threat to the environment and to humans. These threats were absent, and after a short time the company resumed production.
Power Recovery
As soon as a systemic accident occurred, Reftinskaya GRES immediately began to try to resume the supply of electricity to households. Lukoil enterprises located in the Urals; Tomskneftekhim; many facilities in the Omsk and Kemerovo regions - all of them were left without a power source. Only a few hours later it was possible to establish power supply for all consumers.
In addition, at about eight o’clock in the evening at Reftinskaya TPP, work began on the launch of power units and the establishment of systems. That is, only a couple of hours passed from the moment of the accident to an almost complete recovery. You can admire the efficiency of the employees of the power plant!
Who else could be left without food?
According to the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, some high-voltage lines were disconnected. Among them are Tyumen-Nelym, Krotovo-Tatarka and others. Moreover, the second line of the listed was automatically restarted unsuccessfully.
In Siberia, a mass of very important strategic objects. The same military units, for example. To leave them and production without electricity means to endanger the country both in terms of developing the necessary products and in terms of combat readiness.
Due to a short circuit, the electric networks (accident, Reftinskaya TPP could not prevent it) could not come into working condition. Although most high-voltage lines have been restored, there are also those that refused to work.
