Moscow, 20 December 2006. Unit 7 of 500 MW of the Reftinskaya TPP, previously a reserve unit, has been put into operation. This helped the plant's staff to start preparations for the launch of unit 8 of 500 MW, which will be put into operation by the morning peak load period on 21 December.

These units will replace units 9 and 10, which had been stopped to localize the fire at unit 10. On 20 December, at 2.55 am Moscow time, a fire started at the turbine generator of unit 10. The fire had been extinguished by 7:30 am Moscow time. The fire damaged the turbine generator, electric cables, part of auxiliary equipment and part of the roof. However, the core equipment of units 9 and 10, turbines and boilers have not been damaged. Due to this, the repair works at units 9 and 10 can be completed in the shortest possible time. Prompt and efficient actions of the TPP crews on duty have also helped prevent damage to the equipment of the other power units.

Now, works are underway to insulate the technological and impulse pipelines of units 7 and 8, and the main building. A temporary partition to isolate the damaged units is being constructed. Tomorrow, during the daylight hours, the repair crew will assess the condition of the wall bridging of unit 9 and start building a permanent partition between units 9 and 10 in order to ensure the launch of units 7, 8, and 9 and complete the repairs of unit 10 as soon as possible.

The Reftinskaya TPP has six 300 MW units and four 500 MW units. In order to regain the capacity of the units which had been stopped during the fire, reserves of the Urals Energy System, which helped prevent outages in electricity and heat supply to consumers in the Sverdlovsk Region. Electricity and heat is supplied to all the customers in the usual mode. There were no restrictions in power supply during the morning and evening peak loads.

A Task Force of RAO "UES of Russia" headed by Technical Director of RAO "UES of Russia" Boris Vainzikher is investigating into the causes and addressing the consequences of the fire.