Friday, April 17, 2020

Collaterals of Coronavirus attacks, the Singrauli flyash dam breach

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!:

The enormous shock input displacements and shock input temperatures at the slag pond location  as responses to dam content changes worldwide are shown in the three figures below:







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


1 comment:

  1. Re:https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-message-from-the-ipcc-report/article35946913.ece?homepage=true
    This article is a big zero because it ignores my work on dams as the principal cause of many catastrophes befalling the wild man and his industrial revolution. In living in this world by his own will and skill, the stupidest peasant or tribesman is more competent than the most intelligent worker or technician or intellectual in a society of specialists- Wendell Berry In the Unsettling of America- Culture and Agriculture. See Ramaswami Ashok Kumar. 2021. PERFECT DESIGNS. Blogspot. Also see by the same author,
    http://modernandnormal.blogspot.com/2006/09/modern-and-normal-civilizations.html

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