HPCL will put in place a new seawater cooling tower at Visakh Refinery within 100 days from the date of issuing contract.
HPCL General Manager (HR) A.S.V. Ramanan told reporters on Saturday that they wanted to achieve normal production by awarding the contract for new cooling tower by finalising the tenders as soon as possible.
The issue figured at a review meeting with Executive Director V.R.L. Narasimham at Visakh Refinery on Saturday. The August 23 blast at the refinery led to collapse of the cooling tower in which 25 persons, including one executive of HPCL, died.
He said the recommendations of British safety expert Ian Thorpe would be implemented in full once they received the copy of the report. At present, the refinery is being operated at 50 per cent of its rated capacity.
Meanwhile, 65 to 70 per cent of debris cleared from the accident site had been shifted to the designated place. Mr. Ramanan said the cooling tower’s basin was intact and the construction of new tower would need specially treated wood.
Currently, eight patients are undergoing treatment in the city and seven at National Burns Centre, Mumbai. The condition of two patients was stated to be critical in the city. One patient at Mumbai, whose condition was stated to be critical, had shown signs of improvement, he stated.
