NTPC Shuts Unchahar Plant Unit After 26 Die in Blast

Following the accident on 1st November that has killed 26 persons and injured scores of others, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has shut down the Unit 6 (500 MW), Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Power Station. According to NTPC, the other five units of the station are operating normally.

The massive explosion took place in the boiler of the newly commissioned 500 MW unit of the Unchahar plant this Wednesday. The explosion led to leakage of very hot flue gas, steam and ash causing death and severe burns among the workers.

On Thursday, the day after the accident, contractual workers at the plant raised slogans against the NTPC management. They stated that they had warned the NTPC authorities about an impending disaster, as the temperature near the furnace had been steadily rising.

This unit was put into commercial operations only a month back, raising questions whether this was done in too much of a hurry and therefore, were some safety checks missing. The NTPC has launched a probe into the incident, which it said took place due to "excess ash deposition" in the furnace.

According to experts, the 500 MW units of BHEL has been in the country for decades, and therefore such a major accident is very unusual. They also discounted the ash deposition theory of NTPC, that too floated without even a preliminary enquiry. A failure of this type in such a well-tested design should not have happened. An examination of the of the plant’s data, recorded in control system, should reveal the possible sequence of events leading to the accident.

Newsclick report from IANS and other sources