Organization of monitoring the state of structures at the Sayano-Shushenskoe hydroelectric station

Engineering art when reference is to the reliability of an engineering structure should not depend on the political situation in the country. For example, in stagnant years it was decided to replace the type of dam at the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric station (HES). Despite the insistence of the design organization for a so-called buttress dam, the engineering corps of like-minded persons - the construction engineers and customer headed by the chief of the construction project - categorically objected to the proposed design: in the construction industry the technology was not ready for openwork construction under harsh climatic conditions, and, what really matters, millions of people living downstream of the dam should be safeguarded against disasters. As a result a gravity dam was adopted.