Power plant on fire near Melbourne, Aus.

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Power station ablaze in Vic's La Trobe Valley

Victorian firefighters are battling large fireballs coming from a blaze at the Hazelwood Power Station in the La Trobe Valley in Gippsland, south-east of Melbourne.

The fire broke out in a power generator shortly before 8:00am AEDT after a liquid coupling failed on the conveyor system.

The company has shut down two of its eight generators as a safety precautions.

Peter Philp from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says the fire started when oil sprayed over a coal bunker and caught alight.

"They're encountering large fireballs, they're blowing across the floor of the bunker," he said.

"Initially they drove back CFA firefighters because they were so large. They're now regrouping but they have contained one bunker which is the north-south bunker but the fire is still burning in the centre bunker."

Sunday 2 January, 2000

12:57pm AEDT

-- Buster (BustrCollins@aol.com), January 02, 2000

Answers

Is it an embed failure or a glitch or a human accident that caused this little disaster? We're not told, sounds like its a y2k failure to me that caused this. This is the first major incident soon after the new date change. The Power station now catching on fire?. Not very reassuring news.

-- Brent Nichols (b-nichol@ihug.co.nz), January 02, 2000.

Wow! Terrorism do you think? Glitch? Peculiar timing...hmmmmmm

-- Ynott (Ynott@incorruptible.com), January 02, 2000.

Gary North was right! They overloaded the generators.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), January 02, 2000.

I don't see any evidence that this is Y2K... None... How does it "sound like y2k"?

-- Realist (don't@want.spam), January 02, 2000.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/vic/metvic-2jan2000-14.htm

Here's the link that confirms the story about what is characterized by ABC as a dangerous fire at the power plantin Eastern Victoria. Among the most interesting things the article says: "The blaze began this morning (1/2/2000)in the number four power generator after a liquid coupling routine failed on the coal conveyor system." There is no mention of this incident on the Australian Government Y2k website.

-- Carl (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 02, 2000.



Realist,

are you sure you have the right handle, what about "bozo"?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 02, 2000.


Does anyone have a clue as to what the specific failure is that they are describing?

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 02, 2000.

No, No, NO, This is NOT a Y2K failure. Read the story carefully. It says a liquid coupling failed on the conveyor system. If you have ever studied anything at all about power generation you would realise that a liquid coupling is a coupling in a system carrying oil, not electrons. It is purely a mechanical failure. Have a look at a photo of Hazelwood Power station . You can see the conveyor system leading from the coal pits into the crusher plant, and from there into the station.

There is further information on the fire at ABC NEWS .

I know, Hawk, you find electricity too boring to read anything about it, yet for some reason I find you posting doomer messages on any topic to with electricity. Please study the subject before you jump to conclusions about faults in the electricity industry.

Sysops, please delete my previous message.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), January 02, 2000.


Calm down Malcolm you're getting your panties in a twist.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 02, 2000.

"liquid coupling failed on the conveyor system.

No, no, no - it couldn't be a Y2K glitch. These days will go down in history as having the highest incidence of cars running into poles (until the programmers and engineers get all the bugs worked out).

Why is it a taboo to attribute a problem to Y2K? We knew these days were coming and now its against some unwritten law that anything that does goes wrong must be a car hitting a pole somewhere. Wait till all the manufacturing and chemical plants start firing up. We're going to run out of power poles to blame!

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 02, 2000.



How about squirrels or wet kangaroos?

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), January 02, 2000.

We do not have enough information to state for certain whether this is a y2k failure or not. Perhaps someone here with power generation experience does have such experience that they could explain it as a possible y2k related failure.

With the scant information on this one, why fight over it. Believe what you choose and see if you can collect more information.

Still waiting.

-- Michael Erskine (Osiris@urbanna.net), January 02, 2000.


"The fire broke out yesterday morning when oil from a broken hydraulic coupling ignited after coming into contact with a hot pulley on a coal conveyor belt, according to the owner of the station, Hazelwood Power." -- The Age, Melbourne, Australia January 2, 2000

-- Rick (rick@wmrs.edu), January 02, 2000.

MECHANICAL FAILURE.

Next case.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 02, 2000.


There was a mechanical failure, but the real question is what caused the leak in the fuel line. According to ABC news the accident happened during a "liquid coupling routine" which is normally a reference to an automated (computerized) process. If a valve in a line opens or closes at the wrong time because of a computer malfunction or human error a problem is likely to occur. It is also interesting to note that the reference to "liquid coupling routine" which is the clue here regarding the cause of the problem does not appear in other sources concerning this major powerplant fire, specifically the story in The Age. There is a huge difference between a mechanical failure and the failure of a "routine".

The reporting raises serious

Here's a link for an update on the fire:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/vic/metvic-2jan2000-17.htm

heres the link to the original story:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/vic/metvic-2jan2000-14.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), January 02, 2000.



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