Russian hydropower facility to churn

MOSCOW, March 5 (UPI) -- A section of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower station in Russia destroyed in August starts operating at 20 percent by March 20, officials said.

Two water ducts collapsed Aug. 17 at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station in Siberia, flooding a turbine hall. A fuel tank also ruptured, sending oil 50 miles downstream in the Yenisei River. More than 70 people in the accident.

Russian officials said repair work could take at least three years at a cost of $1.2 billion. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it was ready to provide grants for plant reconstruction.

Most of the damage to the station, the largest hydroelectric plant in Russia, was to the support structures and concrete casings.

Boris Bogush, a board member at Russian hydroelectricity company RusGidro, said, "the plant will generate 20 percent of the design capacity," by March 20, Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reports.

Old turbines at the hydropower facility are scheduled for complete restoration by 2014, Bogush added.

Auditors at KPMG said in January that Russia needed at least $500 billion to repair the electric grid, though independent analysts said that sum is not enough.