Ovechkin visits Semin's Krasnoyarsk (update)

 AutoRadio, Krasnoyarsk, Aug. 19, 2009:

Semin: "We had spent most of the time on Krasnoyarsk sea, very little in the city. We went to Biryusa river. He liked the the nature and the mountains. Siberia is Siberia, you can't find a scenery like that in Moscow".



Ovie has been visiting Semin and Siberia for 5 days and left to Moscow yesterday. Now he plans to go to Mordovia, the motherland of his Grand Dad and his Mom, where he has friends and relatives.

Update:

For a a few days Ovechkin and Semin were in Krasnoyarsk and then at the beginning of the week they went to Krasnoyarsk sea to sail the yacht while many residents of Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk region paniced that the dam of Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station could break. In an interview with "Auto Radio" Alexander Ovechkin admitted that he was delighted to what he had seen, and even decided to stay two days longer than he originally planned. "I came to see my friend Alexander Semin. I've got the best impressions, I actually was surprised by Krasnoyarsk region, its beauty. we sailed the yacht, it was very cool, very very cool. Have I heard about Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station? Yes, we did. Semin said that the water level was going up, much higher than it was, but I didn't notice that."

At first I didn't pay attention and didn't translate about the hydroelectric station disaster. Here's what Wikipedia says about hydroelectric Chernobyl:

At 8:15 local time (00:15 GMT) on 17 August 2009, the station suffered a catastrophic "pressure surge". During repair work a sudden change in water pressure caused a water pipe to burst resulting a transformer explosion and flooding in the engine and turbines rooms. At least 17 workers have been found dead while 57 people are still listed as missing. Three of the station's ten turbines were destroyed in the accident, and three others were damaged.



Power generation from the station ceased completely following the incident, with the resulting blackout in residential areas being alleviated by diverting power from other plants. Aluminium smelters in Sayanogorsk and Khakassia were completely cut off from the grid before power supplies were replaced using alternate power sources. The power supplies were fully restored by 19 August 2009. Although smelters continue to work in the normal mode, Rusal warned that in longer term it may lose up to 500,000 tons of aluminum output due to the power shortage, and called to accelerate the construction of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station to replace generating capacities. It is expected that electricity prices will have to increase after the disaster. The plant is expected to restart its operations within 1 to 1½ months, while replacement of damaged turbines will take up to four years.

The accident caused an oil spill as at least 40 tonnes of transformer oil spilled, which spread over 80 km (50 mi) downstream of Yenisei. The spill killed 400 tons of cultivated trout in two riverside fisheries; damage to wildlife, as of end of 19 August 2009 has not yet been assessed. On 19 August 2009 at 19:00 by local time, the 15 km (9.3 mi) long spill has reached Ust-Abakan where it was cordoned off with floating barriers and chemical sorbents.

Trading in RusHydro shares at the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange was suspended for two days. After resuming trading on 19 August 2009, the share drop 11.4%. At London Stock Exchange the share price drop more than 15%. It is expected that RusHydro's business losses will amount to US$100 million. According to Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko the rebuilding of the engine room alone would cost $1.2 billion. The power plant was insured by Russian insurance company ROSNO for $200 million.

The cause of the accident is unclear. Defect of turbines and rise of pressure in the pipes are speculated to be possible causes. According to Alexander Toloshinov, a former general director of the plant, the accident was most likely due to a "manufacturing defect" in a turbine. In 1998, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry claimed that the "station construction [had] dangerously changed" and that the dam wall may not withstand the repeatedly increasing pressure of annual spring floods. In 2004, BBC Monitoring quoted a Russian TV news report as saying the dam operators had been forced to construct an extra water intake wall to alleviate spring flood pressure. However, it is not yet known if these past safety issues contributed to the August disaster.

And of course Ovie was right there, on other side of the dam sailing with Semin when it happened. :-)

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