Uttar Pradesh NTPC blast: Workers had warned officials in advance about a possible disaster

Did the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) commission the new 500 MW Unit no 6 at its Unchahaar Thermal Power Plant in a hurry without ensuring and testing safety and security measures? The answer seems to be in the affirmative if one goes by the startling revelations made by the plant engineers and workers.

The explosion at NTPC’s Unchahaar Thermal Power is being being termed as the biggest industrial disaster in the history of power plants in India. So far, over 30 workers have died and the toll is likely to increase further. Over 100 workers have sustained severe burn injuries.

A General Manager level NTPC official confided to DNA that the newly-commissioned Unit no 6 was still under trial. “It takes about 6 months to one year before a new unit is fully operational. During this period, engineers check each and every process and mechanism to ensure that the unit is functioning up to its installed capacity as per the safety norms,” he said.

The Unit no 6 was set up by engineers of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). It was commissioned three months ago and was producing only 200 MW power against its installed capacity of 500 MW. This clearly suggests that the dry run of the newly-commissioned unit was still on and safety and security measures were still under testing.

A worker from Jharkhand who survived the lava-like ash inferno as he went out to buy a pack of chewing tobacco, claimed that workers had complained to the head of the boiler that something was choking the boiler and steam pipes. After getting red signals, workers claim to have also submitted a written complaint requesting to shut the unit and attend to the problem urgently.

“We had made a written complaint about four days ago, but no efforts were made to rectify and clean the pipes and check the boiler,” said Ram Kishun (name changed).

The NTPC GM also suggested that the explosion seems to have occurred due to ‘clinker formation’. Power engineers claimed that clinker formation is a serious problem in boilers of thermal power plants. The process to remove clinkers from steam pipes and hopper of boilers is very tedious and results in severe outage which may lead to explosion if corrective steps are not initiated.

“Prima facie it seems that clinker formation choked the boiler in Unit no 6 while steam continued to be pushed into the boiler without realizing that hopper of boiler is already choked. The result was severe volcano-like ash explosion,” pointed the GM.

The explosion was so deafening that people within four-km radius could hear the sound. The volcano-like eruption turned the ash into lava and anyone who came under it suffered instant death or sustained serious burn injuries.

Another worker, who jumped from the first floor to save his life after the blast, alleged that engineers opened the choked boiler gate in panic without following the routine drill of informing all workers present there. “Despite being told in advance about the problem, their panic-reaction led to several deaths of innocent workers,” he sobbed.

Whatever are the real causes behind this major industrial disaster will be known only after the inquiry is completed, but human error, use of sub-standard material in construction of the new unit and ignoring safety and security measures seem to be reasons behind the loss of many lives.