108 dead miners, there are missing - so many victims in one accident in the Russian coal mining industry have not been for several decades. But not even this is striking in the Kuzbass tragedy: it occurred at the Ulyanovsk, the most modern mine in Russia. The New Times found out why the mine was launched, operated and converted in an emergency.
However, there is nothing special to be surprised. Because the “Ulyanovskaya”, like most Russian mines, lived in an emergency from birth. And her birth itself was accelerated. The company was successfully commissioned by October 7, 2002. It was important for the regional leadership to catch up with a sign event-the 50th anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Managed.
The fact that from the very beginning the mine began to be operated in the maximum possible mode was meant 1 . Among its consumers are giants such as the West Siberian, Magnitogorsk, Novolipetsky metallurgical plants and Severstal.
At the same time, the race for “memorable achievements” continued: the first million tons of coal at the “Ulyanovskaya” was obtained after seven months - exactly the birthday of Governor Tuleyev. Meanwhile, the mine was supposed to reach the design capacity of 3 million tons of coal per year only in 2007.
It should be noted that at the Ulyanovskaya, it was originally decided to use the mining equipment and equipment of their Kuzbass production. The treatment with mechanized complexes and fasteners was put by the Yurginsky machine -building plant, conveyor conveyors - the Angersky Mashzavod. As experts said then, in their characteristics they were not at all inferior to foreign counterparts.
However, it soon became clear that imported equipment was still more reliable. An emergency rearmament began at the mine. Not so long ago, gas -protection equipment was replaced at Ulyanovskaya, which the miners complained about the ugly work of which the miners complained. By the way, the leadership of the Ulyanovskaya, almost in full force, who died in the explosion, went down to the slaughter to demonstrate to the manager of the British company International Mining Consulting to Jena Malcolm Robertson how the gas detection system of Davis Derby, the Davis Derby, works.
According to the sources of The New Times, the accident at the Ulyanovskaya was most likely provoked by violation of elementary safety standards. One of the reasons: technical re -equipment was carried out, as they say, without stopping production. Which, according to experts, is extremely risky, since it can lead to completely unforeseen failures in the work of the life support systems.
The former head of the Kuznetsk Department of the Gosgortekhnadzor Viktor Khramtsov believes that the explosion could be caused by a failure in power supply. When a certain methane concentration reaches in the mine - more than 1.75% - the automation should turn off the supply of electricity. However, this, judging by some reports, did not happen. Squeezing a huge amount of methane into the mine, according to Rostekhnadzor, may have been caused by some other violations in production technology. Meanwhile, as follows from the materials for checking the mine, ending about a week ago, serious violations were not recorded then. It is possible that they appeared precisely during the technical re -equipment on the go. By the way, the coal miners had a reason to rush. May 13 is the birthday of Governor Tuleyev.
10 years of explosions in Kuzbass mines.
December 1997. The explosion at the Zyryanovskaya mine (Kemerovo region) took the life of 67 miners. Five mine leaders were given to court. March 2000. 12 City rescuers died at the Komsomolets mine (Kemerovo region) during rescue work. The mechanic of the site Vladimir Volosatov and the electrician Grigory Cherdantsev were found guilty. June 2003. At the mine "Ziminka" (Kemerovo region) 12 miners were killed. Based on the results of the investigation, the general director of the mine Evgeny Panteleev was released from office. April 2004. 47 miners died during an accident at the Taizhina mine (Kemerovo region). The criminal case was terminated "for the lack of corpus delicti." October 2004. The explosion at the Lastyazzhnaya mine (Kemerovo region) took the life of 13 miners. Nine engineers and technical workers are sentenced to conditional terms. February 2005. At the Esaulskaya mine (Kemerovo region), 25 people were killed. The State Commission found guilty of the incident mining workers responsible for safety, in particular the chief engineer of the enterprise.
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1 “Ulyanovskaya” develops unique reserves of a particularly valuable coking coal of the brand “GZh”.
