What about the repair of the Rybinsk lock? Dangerous schools of the Rybinsk lock. Ministry of Emergency Situations: there is no threat of serious flooding

For several years, ecologists, engineers and professional hydraulic engineers have been sounding the alarm: Rybinsk hydraulic structures require major repairs. But the management of the hydroelectric power station and the gateway reply to all requests and requests that everything is fine with them. On May 2, the Volzhskaya embankment in Rybinsk was flooded so much that people were kayaking and fishing along the street, and then it turned out that an accident had occurred at the lock.

Scientists warned about trouble

In October 2013, public hearings were held at the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on the problems of the Rybinsk Reservoir. Particular attention was paid to the emergency condition of hydraulic structures built 75 years ago in conditions of an acute shortage of building materials and in the short time frame of one five-year plan; In addition, the construction was carried out by unprofessional workers - prisoners of Volgostroy, which naturally also affected the quality of the structure.

The reason for discussing this urgent topic in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation was two documents. The first is a study by engineer, director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Canal” Igor Andreevich Dubinsky. The second is a study of the gateway concrete by a group of scientists led by Nikolai Konstantinovich Rosenthal, Doctor of Technical Sciences, head of the concrete corrosion sector of the Research Institute of Reinforced Concrete Concrete. These documents are proof that the state of the hydraulic structures poses a danger to Rybinsk and the cities downstream of the Volga, or rather the Gorky Reservoir. " Golden ring“wrote in detail about these studies in materials under the heading “Concrete is tired.” In these materials and in the resolutions of the round tables of scientists of the Interregional Public Council on the problems of the Rybinsk Reservoir, which the Golden Ring also wrote about, there were repeated warnings about a possible accident at the lock and hydroelectric power station. And then there was the accident. To eliminate this accident, 50 workers, engineers and hydraulic engineers worked for 5 days, day and night. Thank God there were no casualties and natural disaster. But what could have happened? And what could happen in the near future? And what is the condition of the gateway?

If there's a wave

In 2008, reconstruction of the lower double-leaf gates of the lock took place. Old, worn-out doors were replaced with riveted, rigid, welded gates. The general contractor for the reconstruction was MorRechStroy CJSC.

The steel gate structures are designed so that they rest on concrete abutments. It's like a door that is hung on a door frame. The stronger the jamb, the more difficult it is to knock down the door. Only the airlock “doors” must be very tight. And the designers calculated them correctly. It just turned out that the “jambs” themselves are worn out to the limit and, as they say, are shaking. Simply put, they installed new, heavy gates, but left the old jambs from Stalin’s times.

Moreover, after installing these gates, it turned out that for some reason the water now presses unevenly on the gate. And in the place where the “door” fits tightly to the “jamb”, the load exceeds the design one, and where there is a gap, there is no load. The load from water in the chamber on the gate is 8800 tons!

“Under unfavorable conditions, the welds may burst, the sash may collapse and water from the chamber will rush into the underlying territory...” Alexander Sergeevich Sukhmanov, chief engineer of MorRechStroy CJSC, warned us in 2012. “The safety of the gateway is not ensured,” he said.

Sukhmanov reported deviations from the project to the management of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Moscow Canal" - the gateway's managing organization.

– There we were told to eliminate the deviations ourselves, without presenting the designers’ technical solution or other documentation.

“MorRechStroy” proposed an alternative option: since it is impossible to firmly fix the gate, then you can adjust its middle position. But for some reason the Moscow Channel did not approve this proposal. Perhaps they decided to save money.

– It is impossible to operate a particularly dangerous structure in this mode! - said Alexander Sukhmanov, chief engineer of MorRechStroy CJSC, in 2012.

Then another problem surfaced. The gates were installed by the Morrechstroevites, and the operating instructions, commissioned by the Moscow Canal Federal State Unitary Enterprise, were to be developed by the design organization. To all requests from MorRechStroy about whether such instructions exist, the Moscow Canal received only one answer over the course of three navigations - “In development.”

Here it is necessary to understand that the lock belongs to the first class of “especially dangerous hydraulic structures”. Each maintenance and repair action must be carried out strictly according to the instructions, and not at random. And it turned out that the gates were replaced, but it was unknown how to operate them. And I had to use old documents from 1941.

Not finding understanding from the management of the gateway, MorRechStroy wrote 160 appeals to various authorities in 2008-2012, but they did not find understanding from officials. There were either unsubscribes or promises from everywhere. And Alexander Sukhmanov was forced to turn to journalists. In the fall of 2012, in an interview, he stated:

– The threat of a hydrodynamic accident due to such incorrect operation of equipment and foundations cannot be ruled out! If it suddenly “explodes”, it won’t seem like much: the lower gate leaves will collapse - a wave of 18 meters will go towards Rybinsk. For comparison: in Krymsk there was a wave of 7 meters, in Japan in Fokushima - 11.

Thank God, in May 2017 the hydrodynamic accident turned out to be minor. By some miracle the gate held. The consequences of the accident have been eliminated. But what happens next?

Scientists, engineers, physicists, ecologists and independent hydraulic engineers have been sounding the alarm for years, writing letters, holding roundtables and conferences, trying to get into the media, while officials and management of the gateway and hydroelectric power station calmly report that everything is fine and wonderful with us; that the safety documentation corresponds to the technical condition of the hydraulic structures, and that there is no cause for concern. However, will these officials give what they deserve when Rybinsk, Tutaev and Yaroslavl are swept away by a powerful wave?

Dmitry KONOVALOV, Interregional public Council on the problems of the Rybinsk reservoir.

In the photographs: Volzhskaya embankment in Rybinsk on May 2: Emergency Situations Ministry diagram: what will happen to Rybinsk in the event of a sluice break.

Due to an emergency at the Rybinsk Reservoir, tourists passenger ships, most likely, they will change routes. Among the large ships there are several calling at the port of Nizhny Novgorod. If the situation does not change, tourists and city residents will have to take buses to get to the Volga capital.

In the Rybinsk Reservoir, in the first days of May, an accident occurred - due to a strong flood, the sluice leaf could not withstand the strong pressure of water during descent and broke. According to the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, the lower door of the eleventh lock was damaged. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

But trouble still happened: due to the impassability of the lock on the Volga, a huge traffic jam of passenger ships and cargo ships formed. There are also Nizhny Novgorod flights among those waiting for locking.

Now, with the help of a diving team and mechanics, they are trying to eliminate the accident at the Rybinsk Reservoir. But most likely, cruise ships will have to change their route. Rosmorrechflot assured yesterday that the breakdown will be eliminated on May 4; today it is reported that traffic through the lock will be restored by 15:00 on May 5, but flights may be delayed for another day.

Infoflot in NN told reporters that they are aware of the current situation and are primarily now concerned with solving the problem with tourists caught in a traffic jam on cruise ships. The most difficult thing is to urgently change approved routes so that vacationers can continue their journey.

According to experts, in the worst case scenario, tourists will be asked to continue traveling to excursion buses. Amendments have already been made to the movement schedules of the ships “Georgy Zhukov” and “Alexander Benois”, the ships will just have to wait for the lock to be restored. If the situation does not improve on May 6 and the dam is not restored, then tourists from the ship “Georgy Zhukov” will have to get to the ship by bus.

The breakdown at the Rybinsk Reservoir is not so simple, as reported by Rosmorrechflot. Portal 76.ru writes that the Morrechstroy company, which was involved in major repairs of these locks in 2008-2010, agreed that the emergency occurred due to heavy flooding. But this is only a consequence, not a cause. When the company made repairs, there were no special instructions for using the gateway. It should have been developed by specialists from the design institute, but it was not there.

Federal agency water resources instructed PJSC RusHydro to limit the discharge of water from the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex until repair work is completed. The spillway dam of the Rybinsk hydroelectric power station is closed, idle discharge has been stopped. A commission has been created to establish the causes of the accident at the gateway.

Trouble with Nizhny Novgorod courts occurred at the same time in the north of the country. The Volga Shipping Company told the NN.RU portal that 4 cargo ships were stuck in the ice on the Onega River in the Arkhangelsk region. There is no danger to people, no one was hurt, but an icebreaker will probably have to be called in for help.

For the fourth day in Rybinsk, serious repairs have been underway at the locks - here, as specified in federal agency sea ​​and river transport, one of the doors broke. Couldn't withstand the water pressure.

“On the evening of May 1, in conditions of an unprecedentedly strong flood, when chamber number 11 of the lock was being emptied by the back pressure of water from the downstream side, the closing mechanism of one of the lower working gates was damaged,” the federal agency reported. “People and ships passing through the lock were not injured, but the camera was out of order.

A repair team of 53 specialists - divers, slingers, mechanics, as well as four pieces of equipment - is working on site.

Due to the accident, passenger ships were temporarily diverted cruise routes. It was also instructed to limit the discharge of water from the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex until repairs are completed.

How serious is it?

We turned to the MorRechStroy company, which was involved in major repairs of the locks in 2008-2010, so that they could talk about the complexity of the situation.

. – We don’t know what the condition is there now, since our three-year warranty period has already expired. At the time of its completion there were no comments on the work. Most likely, the accident occurred due to heavy flooding, but that was not the main problem. When we did the repairs, there were no special instructions for using the gateway. It should have been developed by specialists from the design institute, but, at least with us, it simply did not exist. Even if you buy a kettle in a store, there is a special document that comes with it that tells you how to use it, but here there were no instructions. But this is not a teapot, but a structure weighing approximately 800 tons! It is correct to say that it was not the lock that broke, but its gates, which hold the water pressure. During a flood, it is simply very large.

RusHydro reported that the idle discharge through the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex has now been resumed

“We fully follow the instructions that we receive from Rosvodresursy,” Natalya Ivanova, a public relations specialist for the Verkhnevolzhskiye HPP Cascade branch of PJSC RusHydro, told the site. – Now we have one of the drainage holes half open at the facility in Rybinsk, from which there is a small discharge of water, up to 322 cubic meters per second. This discharge is needed in order to smooth out the flow of water through the hydraulic system, and in the future there was no such situation that it would be necessary to suddenly discharge a large volume of water, which would add additional load to both the structures and the coastline, and to the bottom.

Federal agency: for residents of the region this is even a certain plus

In the Federal Agency for Maritime and river transport They assure you: there is no need to panic.

. – I would even say that there is some advantage for residents of the region, since work on the facility will be placed under stricter regulation. We estimate that the work will be successfully completed within about half a day. We don't expect any big surprises. Of course, the very powerful flood and the sharp increase in water discharges, which both Yaroslavl and Rybinsk felt, are to blame for everything. The automation couldn't handle it. All necessary forces have now been deployed to the site. We have both the resources and the technological solution.

The agency also noted that accidents occur at reservoirs from time to time, but this has not happened in Rybinsk recently.

- Everything is as it is here. railway transport,” Kravchenko noted. – If out of two tracks there, one is under repair, then trains are allowed to run on the remaining one, only by changing their schedule. It's the same here. There are two locks, and one is under repair.

Ministry of Emergency Situations: there is no threat of serious flooding

The day before, at a meeting of the regional commission for emergency situations head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Yaroslavl region stated that the situation is under control

“Currently, the situation related to the water level in the Volga River can be called stable,” said Oleg Bocharov. – There is no threat of serious flooding. However, one must understand that the high inflow of the northern regions affects the operation of the entire cascade of reservoirs. Therefore, we expect that the water level will be quite high throughout the next week. But this does not pose any threat to the population.

May 3rd, 2017 , 07:34 pm

On May 1, during severe flood conditions, the closing mechanism of the lower gate of chamber No. 11 of the Rybinsk lock was damaged. As a result, there are no working lock chambers left at the Rybinsk hydroelectric complex, since chamber No. 12 is under repair. Locking at the Rybinsk Lock has been stopped until the completion of repair and restoration work on the lower gate of chamber No. 11. The estimated completion date for the work announced by Rosmorrechflot is the morning of May 5.

The cessation of transit traffic along the Volga in the Rybinsk region affected two of our ships - "Dmitry Furmanov" and "Alexander Benois". They left Moscow on May 2. The first two days of the cruise are going according to the planned schedule. Changes begin tomorrow.

Officially about the changes:
- on the motor ship "Dmitry Furmanov";
- on the motor ship "Alexander Benois".

The motor ship "Dmitry Furmanov" was supposed to cruise along the route Moscow - Myshkin - Kostroma - Yaroslavl - Uglich - Moscow with a return to Moscow on May 6. Due to a non-functional lock, the ship will not be able to reach Yaroslavl and Kostroma, so we had to quickly change the cruise program.

On May 4, the ship will arrive in Uglich. On this day there will be two excursions: a bus excursion to Yaroslavl, then an excursion program around Uglich.

In order not to overload the trip with bus trips and increase the time of the actual trip along the river, we abandoned the excursion to Kostroma. Instead, the ship will go to Tver, where travelers will be offered a choice of three bus excursions: to Torzhok, to Staritsa and around Tver.

The situation is more complicated with the Alexander Benois motor ship, which operates an 11-day cruise along the route Moscow - Uglich - Yaroslavl - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan - Tetyushi - Bolgars - Cheboksary - Kozmodemyansk - Nizhny Novgorod - Gorodets - Ples - Kostroma - Myshkin - Moscow. Here you cannot change the route so as to avoid passing the Rybinsk lock, especially since in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, some passengers are scheduled to board and disembark. Therefore, the ship has to wait for the resumption of locking operations, which is why tomorrow it will have an additional “day before the lock.”

This day will be organized as follows: in the first half of the day - parking in Uglich with bus tour to Yaroslavl. In the afternoon - parking in Myshkin with excursion program, which does not duplicate the one planned on the way back.

Accordingly, “Benoit” has a delay of about one day behind the schedule, which we plan to eliminate by canceling one of the stops (Tetyusha or Bolgars) and assigning the remaining stop on the same day as Kazan.

I am forced, however, to make a reservation that all this will only work if the gateway is opened within the expected timeframe, that is, in the morning of May 5th. Otherwise we will have to make additional changes to the schedule.

Unfortunately, the ship's delay will entail changes in the plans of those travelers who begin or end cruises in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. Each of them will receive an individual call from the company in order to work out a solution in each case that minimizes inconvenience for people.

This is the surprise that the beginning of navigation gave us. I would like to wish everyone involved in the liquidation of the accident, first of all the employees of the Moscow Canal, a speedy completion of the work and the launch of the airlock chamber into operation. River travelers affected by these changes, I still wish you a great cruise experience.

The recent accident on May 1 at the Rybinsk lock, when the lower gate of one of its two chambers was damaged, caused considerable commotion. It took five days to eliminate the consequences of the accident, more than 50 people were involved in repairs, and all this time shipping was interrupted. Isn't this accident a wake-up call, are we facing more serious troubles? After all, the Rybinsk dam and hydroelectric power station are already 75 years old, and perhaps, in order to avoid a catastrophe, it is worth, at least gradually, as experts advise, to begin lowering the level of the Rybinsk reservoir? The Golden Ring correspondent addressed these questions to the famous Russian energy specialist, who now represents the Yaroslavl region in the Federation Council, Viktor Viktorovich Rogotsky.

• Generally speaking, from an energy point of view, the Rybinsk HPP is not really needed now: the electricity generation there per year is about 1 billion kWh; last year, together with the Uglich HPP, they produced 1.2 billion kWh. On a national scale, this is very insignificant, even small for the Yaroslavl region, where about 8-9 billion kWh are consumed per year. The power of six Rybinsk hydroelectric units is now about 356 MW. Interestingly, this is even less than the power of two power units, as my current assistant in the Northern Fleet, former commander of a nuclear submarine in the Pacific Fleet, says, of the Akula nuclear submarine.

Of course, at one time, the electricity of the Rybinsk hydroelectric station saved the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, during the Great Patriotic War. Its first two units then worked under a temporary canopy, without yet having a permanent permanent stone building. Now the electricity from the Rybinsk station is mainly important during peak loads in the energy system. However, in fairness, it must be said that there is also an effect from the fact that the discharged Rybinsk water stabilizes and makes the operation of the underlying hydroelectric power stations on the Volga more smooth; this also gives about 0.7 billion kWh per year.

“So, in principle, the level of the Rybinsk reservoir can be gradually lowered. And this will reduce the risk of a local dam failure.

• I would not say so categorically. The Rybinsk Sea now plays an important role for Volga shipping. Firstly, guaranteed depths for ships of 4 meters have been created on the reservoir, shipping routes have been straightened, for example, between Uglich and Cherepovets it has been reduced by 150 kilometers, and this saves both fuel and speeds up the delivery of goods. Lowering the level of the reservoir could lead the Volga to a situation where the river could be forded at the height of summer in Myshkin, and in Tver, as they say, Tsarina Catherine crossed the Volga in the 18th century without getting out of her carriage. The situation for shipping will become catastrophic.

In addition, the Rybinsk Sea is also important for fishing; up to 2000 tons, or even more fish in year. The Pyudi are already accustomed to a certain ecology, a certain temperature in both winter and summer, to the coast. If you drain the water, what will happen, for example, to the newfangled resort “Yaroslavl Seaside”, with many bases and holiday homes, dachas.

Not to mention the most catastrophic consequences for the environment: it will take 50 years, as experts say, to reclaim the lands that were recently the bottom of the reservoir. And all this time, here in the center of Russia there will be the Sahara Desert with dust storms spreading for hundreds of kilometers around.

• Victor Viktorovich, but, as we wrote, “the concrete is tired,” the dam and the station are 75 years old, and the risk of an accident, as recently happened with the lock, is increasing. What if the upper gate broke and all this water mass rushed into the breakthrough towards Rybinsk?

As far as I know, the condition of the locks, dam and station is constantly monitored by specialists, and considerable sums are spent both on updating electrical units and on maintaining the dam, buildings and structures in normal working condition.

— What if these costs for maintaining both the hydroelectric power station and the dam exceed the income from the sale of electricity? Will RusHydro, the owner of this entire enterprise, spend money on repairs and so on?

• Perhaps this situation is unrealistic. After all, electricity produced at hydroelectric power stations is the cheapest. There you don’t have to worry about constantly rising fuel prices. Water, which is what drives turbine blades, is a constantly renewable resource.

However, the state and specialists are called upon to monitor this entire complex national economic system and constantly provide an assessment of its regulatory impact.