RusHydro to rebuild hydroelectric plant

MOSCOW, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- State-controlled utility RusHydro plans to issue new shares to finance reconstruction at a Siberian hydroelectric plant struck by an August industrial accident.

Igor Sechin, the deputy prime minister of Russia, said RusHydro plans to issue stocks for $659 million to help finance the estimated $1.3 billion needed to restore the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant, RIA Novosti reports.

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

More than 70 people were killed in the August accident.

Sechin said it was "too early" to pinpoint a singular cause for the accident, though RIA Novosti notes underinvestment in the national infrastructure was blamed for several industrial accidents since the 1990s.

A government watchdog earlier this week blamed inadequate safety and working procedures for the accident.

One of the generators at the hydroelectric plant is scheduled to resume operations in April 2010, with full reconstruction expected to take five years.