COLLATERALS OF
SHUTDOWN OF MODERN CIVILIZATION-THE SINGRAULI FLYASH DAM BREACH 10 April 2020
By Ramaswami Ashok
Kumar, B.E.,M.E., Negentropist,
Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal
© 2020 Ramaswami
Ashok Kumar
World Dam Dynamics is
too much for modern civilization. Not only is
COVID19 a result of the disturbed
ecological regime(2,3) of river basins due to damming rivers, but also the flyash dam breach plausibility because of absence of
operators. This even after the government announced that power falls in the not
shutdown category(1).
Quote from Ref(1):
“However, the
incident points to a bigger problem that might impact Thermal Power Stations
(TPS) -accumulation of fly ash in the ash dykes in the absence of means to
dispose it.
Around 217 million
tonnes of fly ash were generated from 195 Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) in
2018-19, according to a January 2020 Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA)
report on fly ash generation from TPPs.
This meant that every
day, TPSs generated around 461,284 tonnes of fly ash. Of this amount, around 77
per cent was utilised.
The fly ash is
utilised mostly in the cement and building industries including road
construction, concrete and bricks manufacturing and filling of low-lying areas.
Together, these activities account for around 60 per cent of the fly ash
utilisation.
However, all these
activities have come to a halt due to the ongoing lockdown, leading to
accumulation of fly ash, according to experts.
“The cement factories
are now in lockout due to pandemics since March 25. This means power plants are
required to pump more ash into ash ponds,” an official from Hindalco Industries
said on conditions of anonymity.
“This sudden
accumulation of load and water creates a burden on the ponds. Ash ponds are
designed to withstand stress owing to ash retention, they are not designed to
withhold hydraulic stress due to excess water in the slurry,” the official
added.
Under normal
circumstances, TPSs dispose of the fly ash on a daily basis, according to the
official.” End of quote.
The 2000 MW plant at Singrauli has been taken to handle flyash
slag corresponding to 2000 MW capacity daily. This means the handling a 20 day
load of 92256800 kg of flyash
slag in the pond. To get a ball park estimate of the shock input forces , displacements and temperatures at the slag pond
this figure has been used for the contents of the pond.The
earthquakes have been used as proxy for the dam content changes worldwide which
caused the earthquake. The nearby earthquakes to the slag pond(within
10 degrees longitude of the pond) are considered to bring out the fact that
worldwide dam content changes are instrumental in causing the dam breach. See
Figure of the earthquakes compared to the location of the slag pond and of the center of gravity of the dams
of the world. Pictures,not only words!:
Only shutdown is not
the way to the crisis. The collaterals of shutdown must be provided for. Have
they taken care of the possibility of loss of coolant power supply to shut down
nuclear reactors? Such crazy pollution and damage to ecology by modern
civilization have also contributed to the arrival of COVID19 for forcibly
shutting down modern civilization forever(2,3).
References:
1. Soundaram Ramanathan, Ishan Kukreti. Downto Earth.11 April
2020.Fly ash dyke breach in Singrauli points to a
bigger problem of fly ash disposal. Link:
2. Ramaswami Ashok Kumar.2020. PERFECT
DESIGNS: CORONAVIRUS AND LIFE IN 2020- A Macro Perspective at
3. Ramaswami Ashok Kumar.2020.PERFECT DESIGNS.
Finances for exiting into a normal way of life. At
