Accident at Russian dam

[Stephen Tashiro]

A poster on the Bad Astronomy forum pointed out this this link. It has some interesting photos of a recent accident at a dam in Russia.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/the_sayanoshushenskaya_dam_acc.html

[Mike Henderson]

I had read about that accident but the pictures really bring it home. Thanks for posting.

Mike

[John Schreiber]

Dams look so peaceful. The forces involved must be incredible.

[Neal Clayton]

here's a security camera video that showed up on russian TV...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9QiP26Ea_w

from what i've read, some sort of door in the water flow system failed causing back pressure, which ran water back up into the dam that caused a series of explosions when the water flooded the electrical stuff.

[Harlan Coverdale]

Wow. The sound from that must have been indescribable.

[Keith Outten]

According to a recent TV show I watched the Army Corp of Engineers is predicting major failures at several dams and dikes here in the US in the next three years. The lack of inspection in several states is irresponsible and there will be a price to pay.

A large majority of our American infrastructure at dams, dikes, bridges and the electrical grid have deteriorated to the point of imminent failure. For decades I made my living as a welding Inspector and every time there was a major failure we made money working overtime. Someone has to die before inspection and repair is deemed necessary. It's sad :(
.

[Brent Leonard]

According to a recent TV show I watched the Army Corp of Engineers is predicting major failures at several dams and dikes here in the US in the next three years. The lack of inspection in several states is irresponsible and there will be a price to pay.

A large majority of our American infrastructure at dams, dikes, bridges and the electrical grid have deteriorated to the point of imminent failure. For decades I made my living as a welding Inspector and every time there was a major failure we made money working overtime. Someone has to die before inspection and repair is deemed necessary. It's sad :(
.

I currently live in a state that has a handful of dams that are on the USACE "critical" list.

[Keith Outten]

This is very scary stuff if just a fraction of what I heard is true...and I expect it is accurate to a "T".

Imagine a town or major city being without electricity for six months to two years when a primary section of the electrical grid fails, this was one of the scenarios that was presented as a real possibility.

Imagine entire towns being wiped out by a major dam that failed, rebuilding might be financially impossible. Death tolls could be staggering!

Losing major bridges will have a dramatic affect on commerce when goods cannot be shipped and people can't get to their jobs. Factories would be moved rather than wait for a bridge to be repaired, the loss of jobs could be devastating.

If I was putting together an economic stimulus package I would be concentrating on rebuilding America's infrastructure which would also create a lot of jobs at the same time.
.

[Neal Clayton]

that would make too much sense keith...

[jeremy levine]

Wow, is all I can say 74 people. We must support efforts to upgrade and maintain our countires infrastrure.

[Clint Heidelberg]

Last I heard about that dam in Russia was they are thinking it was a failure in workmanship/materials. I think they ruled out the backpressure thing. I work at a hydro dam and the way they were describing the theory about the water pressure(water hammer) destroying it is pretty much impossible.

Clint

[Karl Brogger]

Gotta love the Russians. They are the undisputed kings at failures of engineering. All I can think of right now is the Mir Space station, and Chernobyl. I know there's others.

[kenmiller saas]

Amazing photos...

How it happened?

[John Shuk]

I agree that spending stimulus money on infrastructure would be a great way to create good paying long term job growth. I think the down side is that the companies that were once public utilities are now private with far less regulation than there used to be. I'm not sure the money would go where needed.

[Lee Schierer]

Apparently they have very low safety standards as many of the workers and VIP's in the photos do not have proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) such as safety glasses and hearing protection. I wonder how many more people got hurt in the clean up due to poor safety.