Let’s Bill Chubais
// Regions calculate their damages
Power outrage
It was not only Moscow and Moscow Region that were affected by the large-scale energy crisis, but also adjacent Tula and Kaluga Regions. Energy shutdowns brought about panic. People queued for fresh water and bread. A cloud of carbolic acid at Novomoskovsky nitrogen plant was rumoured to appear in Tula following the blackout. Tula Region governor Vyacheslav Dudka announced yesterday he was preparing to bill RAO UES of Russia for the losses incurred by the failure.
Energy systems of Moscow and Moscow region as well as those of the neighboring regions suffered after a failure at the Chagino sub-station. Water and energy supply was cut off in the northern parts of Kaluga Region on Wednesday, 11:15 am. Residents of Obninsk, Maly Yaroslavets, Balabanov and Borovsk with the total of 265,000 population suffered the hardest. Life in Obnisk, a small town with a number of research institutes, was paralyzed: first electricity was cut off, then water supply and cell connection followed. Employees of all local enterprises got sent home by the noon. Most local shops shut close, and those that stayed open saw crowds of people queuing for drinking water. According to Vladimir Navolokin, chief physician of the medical and sanitary unit No. 8 (the central hospital of Obninsk), all lifts there were cut off, that is why “all those who underwent operations had to be carried on hands from the sixth floor to the reanimation situated on the ground floor. 20,000 residents of the towns who work in Moscow were stalemated. They simply could not return home as no local trains ran. Similar was the case in other towns of Kaluga Region.
The whole of Tula Region was unplugged the same day. Gennady Kochetkov, director general of Tulenergo claimed “a system failure occurred in the energy system of the centre”. As a result, “all seven sub-stations of Tula region were halted, and 80 percent of customers were unplugged. Orgsintez plant became one of the first victims of the failure, emitting a fume of oxalic acid. Witnesses say that a 25 by 30 meter cloud formed and dispersed after a while. Analysts at the local department of the Ministry for Emergency Situations reported that one man was injured following the failure at Orgsintez. It was a worker of the plant who taken to hospital “slightly injured”. “There were no more casualties,” the ministry assured. “Nothing hazardous to the people’s lives happened since oxalic acid poses no danger for man”. Locals were of a different view, though. Panic broke out in the town, because of a rumour of an explosion at Novomoskovksy Azot enterprise and a following emission of poisonous carbolic acid. Vycheslav Dudka, governor of Tula Region, refuted these reports and threatened to strip local radio station that spread false rumours of their broadcasting licences. Furthermore, Mr. Dudka says he has “serious complaint” against NTV company that showed a coverage on an alleged carbolic acid emission.
The failure of energy systems made all factories hold up. City electric-run means of transportations stood still, no traffic lights and lifts were working. Pumping stations that supply Tula with water were cut off. Long queues for bread formed in Tula as it had been rumoured there would be no bread in the town. City mayor Sergey Kazakov admitted rumours had some grounds. “All bread-baking plants were indeed left without water.” Mr. Dudka reported that 15,000 and 200,000 hens died at Rassvet and at Tulskay battery farms because of the power shut-down and the following change of the temperature regime.
“We will calculate the damages up to the last kopek,” Sergey Kazakov warned. “Then we will bill Chubais.” Governor Dudka said, in his turn, that a special commission on the calculation of damages involving the Prosecutor General’s Office was to be created. The governor said at yesterday’s session of the region’s legislature that he would demand RAO EUS of Russia fully recoup the region for the damages suffered from the energy system failure. He said he was meeting RAO EUS’ head Anatoly Chubais and Industry and Energy minister Viktor Khristenko in the evening, and was due to meet Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on June 2. The governor ordered that all those suffered should file the information of their material losses urgently to the local headquarters of the aftermath relief. Then the consolidated bill from Tula Region will be presented for RAO EUS Russia.
Elena Shulepova, Tula; Olga Orlova, Kaluga
All the Article in Russian as of May 27, 2005
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