Ecological Disaster Avoided at Portile de Fier

Tones of oil could have spilled in the Danube, due to a failure at the hydroelectric plant Portile de Fier I. The modernization works led to the discovery of some major irregularities at the casting of a machine part installed 30 years ago. This irregularity might have caused an ecological disaster on the Danube. "Each part of the machineries in Portile de Fier I is being stripped and analyzed by the experts in order to be re-modernized. During such an analysis, a major irregularity at one of the parts in the group five has been signaled. We had a Godish luck that a disaster didn’t occur so far", stated the Hidroelectrica manager, Traian Oprea.

DAMAGE. According to the company’s official, technical problems like that can only be found during great modernizing works, like the ones now at Portile de Fier I. The discovered cracks could have led to the malfunctioning of the turbine engine, causing a total 70 oil tones leak in the Danube, which would have affected the ecosystem in the area. Portile de Fier I and Portile de Fier II provide 41% of the energy produced in the Hidroelectrica units, the company that provides approximately 30% of the annual electric supply of Romania, also having the smallest delivery price. The investment budget of the company for this year was 173 million USD, from which almost 90% are represented by own resources.