Accident at the Rybinsk Gateway: transit traffic of vessels is suspended. Rybinsk locks: will they break through or will they blow through? Ministry of Emergency Situations: there is no threat of serious flooding

For the fourth day now, serious repairs have been going on at the locks in Rybinsk - here, as the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport clarified, one of the gates has broken. 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 temporarily changed their 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 the structures, the coastline, and the bottom.

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

The Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport assures that 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 here is like on 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, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Yaroslavl region said that the situation was 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.

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. The 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 or natural disasters. 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.

With all the ensuing consequences

We will all die, Mom! – I flew into the kitchen with a panicked scream. “The airlock will break through and a wave will cover us all!” Such that Krymsk is resting!

Mom shuddered. She wiped her hands with a towel and looked out the window.

So. So what, I’ll float out right through the balcony on the sofa and will be carried to you in Yaroslavl? – she giggled. But, meeting my gaze, she asked quite seriously: “Do you think we should pack our bags?”

Mom lives in the village of Volzhsky in Rybinsk. This microdistrict and the “city” are connected by a gateway and a bridge. This is what a peninsula looks like. The gate doors of the gateway can be seen directly from the embankment.

It was this beauty, which could turn out to be a disaster, that scared my mother. Of course! When two representatives of the MorRechStroy company, which was reconstructing the lock, contacted the editorial office of Komsomolskaya Pravda and showed their documents, the hair on my head began to stand up.

This is a particularly dangerous structure with all the ensuing consequences,” the chief engineer of MorRechStroy, Alexander Sukhmanov, was nervous. One can understand him - no one responded to more than 160 appeals to various authorities regarding the condition of the Rybinsk lock.

Scheme of a possible breakthrough of the locks

Steel doors, “walking” jambs

In 2008, it was decided to reconstruct the lower double-leaf gates of the Rybinsk Lock and replace the worn-out doors. The old riveted gates were replaced with rigid welded ones. The general contractor for the reconstruction was the MorRechStroy company.

The steel gate structures are designed in such a way that they rest on concrete abutments. It's like a door that is hung on a door frame. A strong jamb makes the door harder to knock down. Only the airlock “doors” must still be very tight. And the designers calculated everything correctly. It just turned out that the “shoals” themselves are almost shaking.

And it turns out that 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. This is where things get uncomfortable. The load from water in the chamber on the gate is 8800 tons!

Under unfavorable conditions, welds may burst, the sash may collapse and water from the chamber will rush into the underlying area... - engineers warn. - The security of the gateway is not ensured.

Morrechstroy workers reported deviations from the project to the Moscow Canal enterprise, which owns the waterworks and lock.

There we were told to eliminate the deviations ourselves, without presenting a technical solution from the designers,” Alexander Sukhmanov is outraged.

The gateway survived the navigation of 2010. But the problem has not gone away. MorRechStroy proposed an alternative option: since it is impossible to firmly fix the gate, adjust its middle position. But the Moscow Canal, as the Morrechstroevites say, did not approve this proposal.

Of course, this is not a structure that will be blown away by a breeze - the gate design is very powerful.

However, it is impossible to operate a particularly dangerous structure in this mode! - MorRechStroy employees are confident.

And here another problem emerges. The gates were installed by the Morrechstroevites, and the operating instructions, commissioned by the Moscow Canal, 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”. You can’t just wipe the gate with a rag. Each maintenance and repair action is carried out strictly according to the instructions.

Just imagine an old TV. If it breaks and you call a repairman, the first thing he will do is ask you for instructions with a wiring diagram. “To understand what broke where,” explained Oleg Gulak, deputy chief engineer of MorRechStroy. - And here is such a building! You definitely need an instruction manual.

The gates of the airlock must meet very tightly.

It turns out that the gate has been replaced, but it is unknown how to “care for” it in a new way. After all, the new gates are serviced according to the instructions for the old ones - according to the 1941 document...

The threat of a hydrodynamic accident due to such incorrect operation of equipment and foundations cannot be ruled out! - warns the chief engineer of MorRechStroy Alexander Sukhmanov.

If it suddenly “explodes”, it won’t seem like much: the lower gate leaves will collapse - a wave of 18 meters will come. For comparison: in Krymsk there was a wave of 7 meters, in Japan - 11...

However, such a wave from the camera is not the worst thing.

If the upper gates collapse, the Rybinsk reservoir will begin to flow, which will be extremely difficult to stop,” explained Sukhmanov. – And then, if events develop unfavorably, the water intakes of the reservoir in the Yaroslavl, Vologda and Tver regions will dry out. People will be left without water, and downstream the scale of destruction from the flow of water from the Rybinsk Reservoir is unpredictable...

Alexander Litvinov, hydrologist, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, more than 50 years, added fuel to the fire.

exploring the water mass of the Rybinsk Reservoir:

Based on the documents provided, dangerous deficiencies relate to the gates of the lower airlock - this is “pleasant”. If an accident occurs, only the inter-gateway space will be emptied. But for a man-made disaster this is also a lot. And if all this mass of water rushes in, then several districts of Rybinsk will not be happy.

The scale of destruction is frightening. Rybinsk is the second largest city in the Yaroslavl region with a population of about 200 thousand people. Private houses and entire neighborhoods with high-rise buildings, kindergartens... With all the usual city life will be under water.

The catastrophe, according to the hydrologist, will be quite large if it happens instantly and uncontrollably. The water can rise in an hour or two or three.

It will not be possible to evacuate, the hydrologist fears. - True, this will not last long - the wave will quickly fade. But Krymsk only had two hours. A real catastrophe will happen if the upper gate suddenly fails, then... But I won’t scare you with apocalyptic pictures. The technical condition report presents nine blatant violations that could lead to disaster. In this condition, I wouldn’t even trust a child with a scooter, with mismatched parts and loose bolts. You will say: think about it, the bolt wasn’t screwed in enough? Can you imagine the bolt of a sluice gate - there the “under-twist” can be measured in meters. I join the engineers’ demand to suspend the post-launch warranty until the operating mode of the Rybinsk Lock is fully brought in accordance with the requirements established in Russia and the world. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the security of our strategic facilities has not been up to par for a long time...

Pointed question

After such statements, we rushed to the airlock. It is difficult to describe this building without a thousand exclamation marks. To get to the very top, gateway director Timur Borisov took us to an elevator - an ordinary one with black buttons, like those found in any nine-story building.

The view from above of the reservoir and river is mesmerizing.

Everyone who manages to visit here has such a reaction,” Timur Borisov smiled, leading us from one gateway tower to another along a wide passage. “And I’ve been working here for so long that this feeling has dulled.” Here, by the way, are the very two cells with gates that you so wanted to see (Borisov points to the building from the balcony with his mistress’s hand). Everything is worth it, it works!

The lock belongs to the first class of “especially dangerous hydraulic structures”. Photo: Elena VAKHRUSHEVA

The smile on the director’s face disappears as soon as we move from inspecting the “farm” to an official conversation on camera. I feel like a schoolgirl in the principal's office.

Specialists should monitor the condition of the gateway. And only experts can understand this topic. And you are reporters,” Borisov immediately cut off. Well, then – dryly, as per the instructions:

There are operating instructions for lower double-leaf gates. There are some differences between the new gates and the old ones, but there are no fundamental changes in the design. The previous instructions were revised taking into account the changes and re-approved in May 2012 as temporary. Changes will still be made to it and the final version of the updated instructions will be developed.

- So, are the engineers from MorRechStroy sounding the alarm in vain? As a director, can you confidently declare the security of the gateway?

“I believe that the structure is in a safe condition, is operated correctly and does not pose a danger,” Borisov said.

How does the warning system work? If something bad happens, how will we know about it?

The project of a local warning system that meets modern requirements is at the stage of final state examination. This is the responsibility of the board of the Moscow Canal. There is a generally well-established systematic approach to notification. This is the interaction of dispatch services with the dispatch services of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the unified dispatch service of the city, and so on. In addition, the building has a siren, which is regularly checked and maintained.

Wow! And in 17 years of living in the village of Volzhsky, I have never heard this siren... Shouldn’t there have been some kind of exercises?

The fact that you have never heard our siren is normal, since when checking the siren, a short start is made - so as not to misinform others!

...and no one's gateway

There was no peace in my soul. “Morrechstroevtsy” foreshadow a great catastrophe, the director of the gateway with an imperturbable look says that everything is in order... You can get confused! So are we in danger or not? And who controls the state of the gateway? To find out this question, I had to work hard. At some point, I got the impression that no one controls the gateway at all!

At Rostechnadzor, we were surprised to learn that the gateways are not under their competence. But Rostechnadzor employees advised to contact the cascade of Verkhne-Volzhsky hydroelectric power stations. Who else, it would seem, if not them, should deal with the gateways. But no! Miss again...

Of course, we also contacted the Ministry of Emergency Situations. But that’s why rescuers are rescuers - they act after something has happened...

And as in fortune telling, the matter ended and the heart calmed down only at the very end. When the consultant of the department for supervision of port activities, shipping and port hydraulic structures answered us in a quiet, calm voice Gosmorrechnadzor Vitaly Kochetkov.

Vitaly Vadimovich, have you received an appeal from MorRechStroy about the condition of the Rybinsk lock? – I ask a phrase that has already set teeth on edge.

Received.

How was it reacted to?

A check was carried out. And after it it is indicated that everything complies with the safety declaration.

That is, the condition of the Rybinsk lock can be considered safe?

“Well, yes,” these last words from the supervisory authorities, coupled with the assurances of the gateway director, seemed to calm me down. And yet... Why then did two engineers from MorRechStroy come from Moscow to Yaroslavl with a pile of papers? Why were you so nervous and called every day while the publication was being prepared? It turns out like this: on the one hand there are engineers with their technical calculations, papers, documents and emotions. And on the other hand, there are officials of all kinds of authorities with their dry and faceless “Everything is fine.” And I don’t know why, even after all the comments from these officials, a worm of doubt still remains in my soul. However, mom is no longer in a hurry to pack her bags. Perhaps it will pass?