Ales in an emergency: regular operation in a non-emergency situation

The city of Almaty is a seismically unstable region. But whenever an earthquake strikes, it comes as a complete surprise, emphasizing that few people know how to behave, what to do in the first place.

Some run down staircases or pile into lifts, some jump out of windows, some climb into cars parked under the windows of high-rise buildings and try to drive somewhere on the congested streets. Someone just spends the night outside, dreaming in the January cold of a warm house, tea, working phones and TVs. And returning home, he finds that there is light, heat, hot water and he can get warm, make calls, drink hot tea….

But few people wonder how, despite the spontaneous emergency, power engineers worked, continuing to provide electricity, hot water and heating. For example, as in the past January, when the Almaty energy complex, and first of all the stations of AlES JSC, were tested by the earthquake without failures, working normally.

Many people take it for granted. But there, in the energy sector and other services that ensure the life of the city, work ordinary people, not “superheroes” from the cartoon. At the same time, their work in production is conditioned by a large number of dangers due to technological complexity. Otherwise, if people fail to cope, an accident or the fall of stations “to zero” in the emergency mode is fraught with even more negative consequences for the megapolis than just the elements.

Life support professionals: cooler than “superheroes”

“Superheroes are only in the cinema. But at life support facilities, professionals who are well versed in the work regulations, including those prescribed for various emergencies, ensure regular operation. And they remain on duty, fulfilling their duty. As told in AlES JSC, despite the strong earthquake, which occurred on 23 January this year at 00 hours 09 minutes, as well as several aftershocks, not a single power engineer has not left his workplace.

“Taking into account that the territory of Almaty and Almaty region, where the departments of AlES JSC are located, is located in the earthquake-prone zone, all our production buildings, structures and equipment of heat and power supply facilities are designed for earthquake resistance at the strength of the earthquake from 9 to 10 points. Moreover, the buildings and structures of our production departments are built on artificial sites with a maximum possible seismicity of up to 10 points. At the same time, we take annual measures to strengthen the seismic resistance of heat and power supply facilities, – says Alexander Dovzhik, Head of the Civil Defence and Emergency Service of AlES JSC. – Specialists have made forecast variants of consequences, taking into account the strength of the shock, the map of the city, possible damages, as well as secondary factors of defeat and regulations of personnel actions. This is important for the organization of work to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake and other emergencies.

Thus, in the event of a strong earthquake in the city and region, all personnel of the head office and departments of AlES JSC, without additional instructions, should immediately, in accordance with the skills practiced during seismic training, occupy safe places in rooms marked with certain signs.

In case of personnel evacuation, there are specially designated safe areas at all Company facilities. At the same time, civil defence formations are put on standby.

“Also, taking into account the degree of damage, the timeframe for eliminating the consequences is also determined”, he adds. – For example, calculations show that in the event of a devastating earthquake, the facilities at CHPP-3 will suffer medium damage, and minor damage at CHPP-2. Kapshagayskaya HPP will remain operational, which will quickly restore the electric load”.

It was a five-point bump. The exam was passed

Well, what the earthquake of 23 January showed, which became a real test of professionalism for many services of the city. Including for power engineers.

At the time of the earthquake, Leonid Zykin, the head of shift “B” of the boiler shop of CHPP-2, was working on the night shift. “The first tremors took place at 00 hours 09 minutes and lasted for about a minute, – says Leonid Vladislavovich. – At that time I went from the office to the block control board. According to the instruction, which is valid for tremors up to 5 points, I gave a command to inspect the operating equipment. At 00:15 minutes I received a confirmation of serviceable operating equipment and preservation of lighting. I reported about it to the head of the night shift of the station. After 01:00 hours there were repeated shocks with a smaller amplitude. We were in full readiness – our instructions clearly describe all actions of the personnel. In accordance with them we promptly inspected and bypassed both main and auxiliary equipment”.

At the same time, Zhandos Nurgaliyev, the shift supervisor of the CHPP-2 power plant (or night director, as power engineers jokingly say), was at the control room – the main control board – and took control of the plant’s operation in emergency mode.

“At first, at the first shock, I thought it was the vibration of equipment, but quickly realized that a strong earthquake had started and immediately called all the shops”, says Zhandos Algayevich. – All shift and shop supervisors made their rounds and immediately called back, reporting that there were no replacements for the equipment. We have a detailed action plan for such situations on localization and elimination of emergency situations in case of damage to equipment operating under pressure during an earthquake. We immediately established that there were no equipment shutdowns. The plant continued to operate according to schedule in normal mode”.

There were fears, but duty came first

His story is confirmed by Farid Nesinbekuly, shift supervisor of the electrical shop at CHPP-2, who recalls that everyone felt the ground shaking, but of the equipment visible, “only the bulbs on the switchboard were wobbling. In general, he says, there were no emergency situations. Of course, they feared for their lives, but they stayed on the job because they realized what a failure of equipment could do to the plant and the city.

During the earthquake the “B” shift was working here. Aydos Terlikbay was the shift supervisor of the turbine shop of the power plant. He summarized the actions and consequences of the natural disaster at his site: “The equipment slightly “chattered” levels in the six-atmosphere deaerator (it is necessary to remove gases that contribute to corrosion from the feed water of steam boilers and make-up water of heating systems). Otherwise, there are no comments. In general, we have an instruction and an emergency response plan, where it is prescribed about earthquakes – at how many points what to do”.

At CHPP-1, Galymzhan Maksutov, a 5th-grade pumping unit operator, took over the night shift. He’s been working in the control room at this station for 11 years, but this is the first time such an earthquake has happened in his memory.

“There was no malfunction during the earthquake, but the building itself shook a little bit”, he recalled. The control room cubicle towers above the large pump shop and has to be climbed up several flights of spiral metal stairs. So he didn’t leave his workplace, but in accordance with instructions, he stood in a safe corner, watching the monitor.

“There is a duplicate display in the shop itself, which is monitored by a senior machinist”, Galymzhan said. – All the equipment was working properly. There is a record of this in the logbook. When we hand over a shift, we give a full report, having made a preliminary round, check the work of pumps and reserve pumps, too.

And if there was an abnormal situation, for example, the pressure in the return, the alarm system would immediately go off. Or if there was an overflow, we are obliged to notify and note it in the logbook. In addition, we check the area of the battery tanks and record a report on their condition in the operational log. But that night everything worked properly, even though the tremors were palpable”.

What if there was a mudflow?

Cascade of hydroelectric stations has 9 hydroelectric stations. But here they shared their memories of how they acted at HPP-1 in August 1989, when a mudflow occurred in the Kumbel-Su gorge. Mudflow, as it is known, is one of the systemic threats to Almaty, including the energy sector. Therefore, this type of emergency is also prescribed in the “Action Plan for Elimination of Emergency Situations of AlES JSC”.

“At that time I was a duty engineer of HPP-1. About 5 minutes before the arrival of the mudflow, the mudflow protection observation post, which is located on the road to BAO, warned me of its approach. According to the instruction, which was at the station, I closed the intake gate. And I barely had time to run behind the protective wall, as the first shaft of a mixture of stones and mud mass flew towards HPP-1, – said Sergey Fedorovich Popov, who worked in the hydraulic engineering shop before retiring in 2016. – The waves came with periodic frequency, crashing against the protective wall. The height of the shaft was very high, and only a few centimeters were not enough for this avalanche to go over the wall and cover HPP-1. The suspension bridge, designed to determine the volume of water and located over the Kumblel-Su river, was then broken by the waves. It was no longer possible to cross to the other side. The rumbling and rock blows, of course, were not very pleasant to endure. But I was sure that our stations would withstand this pressure of the elements. And so it turned out: the units of HPP-1 worked in the same mode”.

He also recalled that in 1979 the power transmission line was moved higher up on the mountain slopes, because in 1977 it was destroyed by the previous mudflow. Therefore, the mudflow mass in 1989 did not damage the electric poles, and the units of HPP-1 worked almost at full load. Water and electricity supply was not interrupted.

Emergencies were, are and will be. It is important to learn from them

“During the whole event, the duty officer on duty was obliged to inform the shift supervisors of Cascade HPP about the situation every 15 min. And communication with the head of the Cascade HPP station was carried out via high-frequency communication channels”, continued Sergey Fedorovich. – After that mudflow all roads were destroyed. And for 3-4 months we walked to the station – we were driven only to Ayusai. All the crews on duty walked up and down the mountains. Then everything was restored and we started to work in the previous mode”.

“We have learnt lessons from all emergencies. All emergencies are analysed and then new provisions or adjustments are made to the relevant company documents”, concludes Aigali Ermurzayev, chief engineer at Cascade HPP. – For example, the main source of catastrophic mudflows on the Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinka and Kargaly rivers is heavy rainfall in 75%, breakthrough of moraine – glacial lakes in 25% and breakthrough of temporary reservoirs formed as a result of earthquakes in 5%.

The most probable periods of mudflows in Almaty occur from April to September. Mudflows resulting from earthquakes, breakthrough of water reservoirs formed by landslides and rockslides and moraine-glacial lakes are particularly grandiose in scale. Therefore, we include mudflow training twice a year as a preventive measure.

Landslide hazard also poses risks. Roads leading to energy facilities, equipment and machinery fall into the landslide zone. Other threats include radiation and chemical hazards, flooding, particularly dangerous infections, fire hazards, etc. There are regulations for all these situations, which we strictly follow”.