Russian 'disaster dam' was 85 percent obsolete

The Sayano-Shushenskaya dam, that was hit by an explosion last month killing over 70 people, had been declared 85 percent obsolete by Russian experts over two years ago, it has been revealed.

According to Sergei Stepashin, the head of Russia's Accounting Chamber, a majority of the equipment at the dam had long since worn out.

"The station was checked by the chamber in 2007, and we revealed that 85 percent of the equipment was obsolete," says Mr Stepashin to the BBC.

"We then made the appropriate approaches to the government and the prosecutor general's office,"

"The replies we received stated that the station was a shareholding business, so let the shareholders pay for the repairs," he added.

Despite this damning reports, a representative from RusGidro, the owner of the station, insisted that all necessary measures had been carried out to rectify the problems identified, and that a note to this effect had been sent to the Accounting Chamber.

The accident has been cited as an example of too much pressure being placed upon Russia's ageing infrastructure. For the past two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's energy technology has proven incapable of holding up under the country's energy needs. With a growing demand from industrial producers, the ageing technology has shown itself to be prone to breaking, often leaving many without power for days.

Russia's current energy policy can be traced all the way back to the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The accident forced the Russian government to look into safer ways to produce energy, making the Russian economy dependent on oil prices and oil and gas sales.

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