CASE STUDY DEADLY EXPLOSION AT HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT On 9th April, 2024, seven people died after an explosion at the hydroelectric power plant on Lake Suviana, seventy kilometres from the city of Bologna, in northern Italy. The dam Lake Suviana is an artificial lake located in the Appennine mountain range near Bologna. The Suviana dam was built by the State Railways with the aim of producing electricity exploiting the waters of the lake, which still exists downstream of the dam, so that it could supply energy to the Bologna-Florence railway line. Construction started in 1928 and was completed in 1932. In 1975, the Italian energy giant Enel built the Bargi hydroelectric power station upstream, which is powered by the waters of the nearby Brasimone basin, connected to Lake Suviana by a pipeline. The power plants are now owned by Enel Green Power, a subsidiary of the Enel company. The accident According to initial reconstructions, a generator exploded while work was underway on the turbines; the explosion occurred on floor nine, thirty metres below the surface of the lake, causing the floor below to become flooded. Besides the seven victims, five more people were seriously injured. They suffered severe burns following the explosion and were flown to nearby hospitals by helicopter, while two men were taken to an intensive care unit. The company expressed its deepest closeness to all the victims and their families. Concerns about work safety What happened has risen concerns about workplace safety in Italy, where over 1,000 people lost their lives while working in the previous year. According to a report by the country s national workers compensation authority, INAIL, the country s largest unions were already organising a nationwide strike to protest over the issue. Adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68761493 21 Read the text and decide if the sentences are true or false. Correct the false ones. T F 1. In the accident, five people were killed and seven were injured 2. The Suviana dam was built by Enel in 1932 3. The hydroelectric power station was built to power the nearby village 4. The accident was caused by the explosion of a generator 5. The generator was located on the ground 6. The generator and the turbines were both working 7. The people injured suffered very serious burns 8. According to the article, workplace accidents are very rare in Italy 26 COMMON GROUND compensation: indennizzo dam: diga strike: sciopero subsidiary: consociata union: sindacato upstream: a monte underway: in atto
CASE STUDY – Deadly explosion at hydroelectric power plant