The power-deficit State has suffered yet another jolt when a major fire broke out in the Mettur Thermal Power Station in the wee hours of Thursday thus totally crippling the functioning of all its four generating units 210 MW of installed capacity. The power generation loss is estimated to be around 20.16 MU.
The fire that destroyed the entire coal conveyor system also killed a filed assistant and injured two others including an Assistant Engineer, who were on duty then. The fire, noticed in the 400-metre long main coal carrying conveyor belt between Tower I and Tower II at 2 am, had spread to milling plant and later to Bunker Top. Fire tenders from Mettur, Omalur, Edapadi, Bhavani and neighbouring areas fought for five hours to bring the 20-feet high burning coal induced fire under control.
Police and Fire Service personnel found field assistant Nallathambi (55) dead with burning injuries lying beside the collapsed conveyor system while another assistant Gopal and Assistant Engineer Adiyaman were found unconscious and injured. While Gopal was shifted to a Coimbatore hospital in a serious condition, Adiyaman was admitted to the Mettur Government Hospital where he is said to be recovering
“We are assessing the situation and restoration works will be undertaken on war-footing,” Plant’s Chief Engineer M. Madhu told 'The Hindu.’ The fire, he said, could have been caused either by the friction in rollers under the conveyor system or an electrical short circuit. “The entire conveyor system that carry coal from coal yards to feed the boilers of all the four 210 MW units have crashed,” said Mr. Madhu.
The stand-by system also was damaged in the fire. With no further feeding of the coal, all the four units of the Power Station had ceased to generate power from 4 pm on Thursday thus brining the Plant operations to a grinding halt. Just prior to the accident, the plant had been producing power to its fullest capacity. A senior official however, pointed out that it would take at least a month to make the Plant fully operational.
A fire broke out in the conveyor system some two months back. Alert workers however doused it before it went out of control. District Revenue Officer S Prasanna Venkatesan and SP Ashwin M Kotnis supervised the relief operations. A high level team from Chennai also would be visiting the plant to assess the situation.
Curious that there are multiple fires mentioned but no word of an automatic fire suppression system such as a deluge sprinkler system. Are the codes in this part of the world lax on this subject? It would be unthinkable here in the US that a coal belt would be unprotected.
Appreciate your input!
I agree too that standard op procedures should include full personal protective equipment such as hardhats, safety shoes, safety eyewear at a minimum, with more as needed as dictated by the particular environment (flash guard gear, respirators, etc.)
@Bala: Yes, the distance but is 400 km. Further there were hotspots near Mettur Thermal and also Kudankulam, the latter hotspots may have caused the fire at the Thermal station. Thus the question of threat to Kudankulam due to dams remains.
@Bala When I went into lat long finder I got Mettur near Agasthyakoodam Biological Park east of Tirunelveli. When I went into Mettur Thermal station at Wikipedia I got coordinates mentioned by you!The distance works out to 400 km.I stand corrected. Still the threat mentioned remains as the dam surges can attack Kudankulam if fortuitiously located in the path of their path.
I suggest to restore part of the conveyor which is not damaged by the fire. We can use tipper lorries to feed the coal to the boilers. Atleast we start one of the power units. Any amount spent on this temporary measure will help to tide over the power crisis.
@Mr. Ramaswami Kumar:
Mettur Thermal is @ 11.776725,77.816033 and
Kudankulam is @ 8.168333,77.712822
The distance between them is about 475 Km (not 85Km)
A power station is a fire hazard area: be it Hydal, Thermal or
Nuclear. Fire safety measures are to be strengthened which should
include tight discipline on dress code, no smoking, no over loading
etc. The defaulters should be punished. For example, wearing safety
shoe, helmet, goggles etc should not be optional. By not following
safety, they are risking own life and other's life. Recently power
engineers died in Kerala underground hydro electric station fire
accident. Even these sacrifices are not opening the eye's of the
common man. Within days they forget the issue and things are returned
to original status. Let us not have too much democracy in safety. That
is the only solution.
God save Kudakualam and south India from any accidents bevause we have no confidience in saftey measures implemanted by government.
The location of Mettur is Latitude = 8.8664, Longitude = 77.3676. The location of Kudankulam is 8.1798,77.7051. The distance is 85 km. What is the reason for the fire in Mettur? Is it due to friction heat at Mettur due to the dynamics of the world's dams? If it is so is kudankulam safe from such jolts?
For industries man power is most valuable asset so safety should be
first and foremost concern for them. One previous fire incident also
happened in the same plant in July 2011 when a major fire caught up in a godown.The repetitive fire accidents are implicating that the safety
parameters of the plant might not be up to the satisfactory mark.
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