Cascade: reality and projects. Wet business What do we know about the river

The Angara-Yenisei cascade of hydroelectric power stations includes: Irkutsk, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk and Boguchanskaya (under construction) on the Angara; Krasnoyarsk (Divnogorsk), Main (village Maina) and Sayano-Shushenskaya (Sayanogorsk) on the Yenisei.

Hydroelectric power stations of the cascade are the supporting units of the Unified Energy System of Central Siberia, they operate in the unified energy system of Siberia in a compensatory, interdependent mode.

Angarsk cascade, the largest cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the river. Angara, which has huge potential reserves of water energy, for the use of which it is planned to build 6 large hydroelectric power stations with a total capacity of about 14 GW (million kW) and an average annual production of over 70 TWh (billion kWh) of electricity. Favorable terrain conditions make it possible to build high-pressure dams with relatively small specific volumes of construction work and obtain cheap electricity. The first stage of the Angara cascade was the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, commissioned at a design capacity of 660 MW (thousand kW) in 1958. The 2nd and 3rd stages in the scheme are the low-pressure Sukhovskaya and Telminskaya hydroelectric power stations with installed capacities of 400 MW each and a total electricity generation of 3.4 TWh in an average water year. The 4th stage of the cascade is the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, which reached a capacity of 4.1 GW in 1966. In 1969, 40 km below the mouth of the right tributary of the Angara - the river. In Ilim, the 5th stage was being built - the Ust-Ilimskaya HPP, its capacity is 4.3 GW, the average annual output is 21.8 TWh. The last stage of the Angara cascade, the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station with an average annual output of about 18 TWh, is being built above the village. Boguchany. The Angara cascade is the basis for the development in the Angara region of large energy-intensive industrial complexes for the production of aluminum, titanium, magnesium and other types of products.

4. HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL OF RIVERS IN RUSSIA.
Russia ranks second in the world after Brazil in terms of average long-term annual river flow.51 The number of Russian rivers exceeds two million, and lakes and reservoirs are countless.52 Most of the river flows are located in the eastern part of the country; the European part accounts for 25% of the country’s total water resources .

Annual runoff varies widely across the country. In the North Caucasus, this parameter exceeds 2000 mm per year; in the Northern Urals, Altai and the mountains of Eastern Siberia it is close to 1000 mm. In the European part of Russia it is significantly lower and ranges from 300-400 mm in the northwest to zero in the southeast. River flow also experiences seasonal fluctuations. In most of the country, 50-70% of annual flow usually occurs between April and June. In addition, the volume of river flow varies from year to year; especially in southern Russia, where water resources are limited.

In Fig. Figure 6 shows the hydropower potential of various territories of Russia. According to the World Commission on Dams, Russia's total hydropower potential is 29,000 billion kWh. per year, of which 83% falls on large and medium-sized rivers. The technical potential is estimated at 2030 billion kWh. The economic potential, taking into account the level of economic development, economic feasibility, ecology and other factors, is estimated to be 35% of the full potential or 1015 billion kWh. per year Most of the potential hydropower resources are located in Central and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. The North Caucasus and the western part of the Urals also have good hydropower potential.55 The Far East and Eastern Siberia together account for more than 80% of the total hydropower potential. According to Ivanov, these regions could produce 450-600 billion kWh. in year. According to estimates by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Russia, the total hydropower potential of small capacities is 360.4 million t.e. per year, technical potential - 124.6 million t.e. per year, and the economic potential is 65.2 million.
here. per year.57 The World Commission on Dams estimates the economic potential of small hydropower to range from 80,000 to 493,000 GW.

Conclusion.

Thus, the work examines the formation, development and prospects of hydropower in Russia.

Most of the hydropower potential is concentrated in the regions of Siberia and the Far East: there is a huge resource for producing cheap electricity.

To solve the priority problems of hydropower, the “Energy Strategy of Russia for the period until 2020” is of great importance.

Thus, by 2010, the construction of the Bureyskaya HPP, Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP and Vilyuiskaya HPP-3 in the Far East should be completed and the commissioning of the capacities of the power plants under construction should begin.

After 2010, it is planned to complete the construction of the Boguchanskaya HPP and Mokskaya HPP in Siberia, the Ust-Srednekanskaya HPP and the cascade of Nizhnezeya HPPs in the Far East.

In the period until 2020, it is planned to begin construction of the South Yakutsk hydropower complex and a cascade of hydroelectric power stations on the lower Angara with the commissioning of the first units of the main hydroelectric power stations.

The large-scale involvement of new hydroelectric power plants in the energy balance of the Unified Energy System of Russia will not only contribute to the displacement of scarce gas, but could also have a very high price on the energy markets of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and North China, where the development of the energy sector is planned almost exclusively through nuclear power plants and thermal power plants.

Hydropower in the new millennium can become a structural leader in the development of Russia's energy sector, because This is the most developed, environmentally friendly and investment-attractive industry. In addition, priority attention to the development of hydropower will save expensive primary hydrocarbon resources.

.6. List of used literature.

1. Asarin A.E. Development of hydropower in Russia / A.E. Asarin // Hydrotechnical. pp., 2003.- No. 1.- P. 2-7.

2. Belyaev L.S. Integration of the electric power industry in the eastern regions of Russia and the countries of North-East Asia / L.S. Belyaev, E.D. Volkova, N.I. Voropai et al. // Region: economics and sociology, 2002. - No. 31. – P.4.

3. Vasiliev Yu.S. State and prospects for the development of hydropower in Russia / Yu.S. Vasiliev // Izvestia Acad. Sci. Energy, 2003.- No. 1.- P. 50-57.

4. Ivanov I. N. Hydropower Hangars and natural environment / USSR Academy of Sciences. Siberian branch; Baikal Ecological Museum; Ed. G.I. Galaziy. - Novosibirsk: Science, 1991. - 128 p.

5. Savelyev V.A. Modern problems and future of hydropower engineering in Siberia / V.A. Savelyev. - Novosibirsk: Science, 2000. - 200 p.

Related information.

In the 30s the idea of ​​developing the hydro resources of small rivers faded into the background. Articles appeared in the Soviet press under the headings “Country AE”, “Angarstroy”, “Big Angarstroy”, devoted to the development of hydropower resources of large Siberian rivers - the Angara and Yenisei. In those years, socialist industrialization began, the symbols of which were the country’s gigantic construction projects: the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, Volkhovstroy, Magnitka. At the same time, plans were outlined for the development of productive forces in the east, including the construction of powerful hydroelectric power stations, the laying of power lines of unprecedented length and power in the taiga, and the construction of the largest metallurgical plants. Even then, in Eastern Siberia it was planned to create a world center for aluminum smelting on the basis of cheap electricity.

Under the leadership of Academician I.G. Aleksandrov, within the framework of the Angara Bureau, large-scale comprehensive studies of the natural resources of the Angara region, and in particular the hydraulic resources of the Angara, are being resumed. Hydrological stations that were closed after the revolution are being re-organized. On instructions from the USSR State Planning Committee, the Bureau is developing a scheme for the integrated use of the Angara. Well-known scientists and practitioners take part in this work: economic geographer Professor N.N. Kolosovsky, energy engineer V.M. Malyshev and others.

The possibilities of hydropower construction in the Angara region were discussed at regional party conferences and at meetings of the Presidium of the USSR State Planning Committee. In those years, two projects were proposed: “Maly Angarstroy”, which envisaged the creation of several hydroelectric power stations between Baikal and Cheremkhovo, and “Big Angarstroy”, which planned in the long term the construction of powerful hydroelectric power stations in the rapids part of the river, starting from Bratsk and to the mouth of the Angara. The ideas of all the projects were summarized and presented in a report at the First All-Union Conference on the Development of the Productive Forces of the USSR (1932), which considered the possibility of building several hydroelectric power stations on the Angara: Baikal, Barkhatovskaya, Bratsk, Shamanskaya, Igrenskaya and Kamenskaya. Subsequently, a detailed study of the area between Irkutsk and the village. Barkhatovo forced to abandon the construction of the Barkhatovo hydroelectric station (202 km from the source). Instead, it was proposed to build two intermediate hydroelectric power stations, Sukhovskaya and Telminskaya.

By the mid-30s. The following basic documents were prepared:

Working hypothesis for the integrated use of the Angara;

Preliminary scheme for the development of its upper section to Bratsk;

Schematic design of the priority Baikal (Irkutsk) hydroelectric power station;

Technical and economic scheme of the Bratsk energy-industrial complex of industrial enterprises - consumers of electricity. The listed documents justified the construction of a cascade of power plants on the Angara using a height difference of 333 m (out of the available 380 m), and the remaining 47 m was planned to be left for the reservoir of the Yenisei hydroelectric station, which was proposed to be located below the mouth of the Angara. The reservoir's backwater was supposed to reach the lower stage of the Angarsk cascade - the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric station. All these proposals were considered and generally approved by the expert commission of the USSR State Planning Committee in 1936. However, work on the implementation of these projects never began.

They resumed only after the Great Patriotic War. And already in 1947, the Conference on the Development of the Productive Forces of the Irkutsk Region recommended that the government begin to develop the hydro resources of the Angara, while developing aluminum, chemical, mining and other energy-intensive industries on the basis of cheap electricity and local sources of raw materials. It was considered expedient to build only one large hydroelectric power station between Irkutsk and Baikal. Academician A.V. Wiener, objecting to supporters of the construction of two power plants on this site, compared the upper reaches of the Angara to a precious diamond, which would be wasteful to divide into parts. In total, it was proposed to locate six hydroelectric power plants on the Angara with a total installed capacity of up to 14 GW and an average annual production of about 70 billion kWh of electricity ( table). The implementation of these proposals began immediately after the conference. Additional design and survey work was carried out and in 1949 a design assignment was prepared, and two years later - a technical design for the construction of the firstborn of the Angarsk cascade - the Irkutsk hydroelectric station.

Table
Hydropower characteristics of the Angara Cascade hydroelectric power station, the construction of which was proposed at the 1947 conference.

Hydroelectric station	Distance from the source km	Pressure hydroelectric power station, m	Square reservoirs, km 2	Reservoir volume, km 3		Power- ness, MW
				Full	Useful
Irkutsk	65	31	200 (31500) *	2,5 (23000) *	46 *	660
Sukhovskaya	108	12	63	0,4	0,06	400
Telminskaya	147	12	91	0,4	0,03	400
Bratskaya	697	106	5470	169	48	4500 **
Ust-Ilimskaya	1008	88	1873	59	3	4320
Boguchanskaya ***	1451	71	2336	58	2	4000

* Taking into account the area and water reserves of Lake Baikal.
**According to the initial project - 3600 MW.
*** The hydroelectric complex of the Boguchanskaya HPP will be located outside the Irkutsk region

Irkutsk hydroelectric power station

The section of the Angara from Baikal to Irkutsk attracted hydraulic builders even in the pre-revolutionary period. It had almost ideal flow regulation, favorable mining and geological conditions for the construction of a hydroelectric complex and the creation of a large reservoir using the enormous area of ​​Lake Baikal. The presence of a large city nearby with its industrial enterprises provided reliable consumers of electricity and made it possible to quickly create a powerful construction base for the construction of hydroelectric power stations.

By the beginning of the 50s. a technical project was prepared for the construction of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 660 MW (half the capacity of all power plants in the GOELRO plan). The decision to build it was made by the government in January 1950, and within a month the first hydraulic builders appeared at the site of the future hydroelectric power station.

The construction of the hydroelectric power station began under difficult conditions. There was a shortage of experienced specialists, workers, machinery, and housing. There was no experience in constructing waterworks and, especially, gravel-sand dams on similar rivers, in harsh climatic conditions, with high seismicity. Before this, such dams were built only in Japan, but Japan did not know about Angarsk scale.

The location for the hydroelectric complex was chosen 65 km from Lake Baikal. The gravel-sand dam and the combined hydroelectric power station building had a total length of 2.6 km and raised the level of the Angara in front of Irkutsk by 28 m. The resulting reservoir had an area of ​​200 sq. km and a water volume of 2.5 cubic km.

At the Irkutsk hydroelectric complex, they did not provide a discharge dam, which is mandatory for many hydroelectric power plants, since the Angara at its source is regulated by Lake Baikal and has a constant water flow (about 2 thousand cubic meters / s). To discharge large volumes of water, special adjustable openings with a possible throughput capacity of 6 thousand cubic meters/s were placed in the hydroelectric power station building.

The flood zone of the Irkutsk reservoir on the banks of the Angara included 58 settlements, a section of the Irkutsk-Listvyanka highway and the Irkutsk-Mikhalevo-Podorvikha-Baikal railway line. In addition, as a result of the construction of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station dam, the level of Lake Baikal also rose. Along its coast, in low-lying delta river areas, about 100 thousand hectares of land, 127 settlements, of which 9 were urban, fell into the flood zone. In total, during the construction of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, 3.3 thousand households (17 thousand people) were resettled. Industrial enterprises were moved to new locations, and new settlements arose in place of old settlements. A new road was built from Irkutsk to the village of Listvyanka, as well as a railway from Irkutsk along the Olkha River valley through the pass to Slyudyanka.

In May 1951, the first bucket of soil was removed from the pit of the future hydroelectric power station. Soon a stream of machines and mechanisms from all over the country began to flow to the banks of the Angara: Ural excavators, Minsk dump trucks, Kharkov turbines, Novosibirsk generators.

In May 1952, from Angarsk, from the newly commissioned CHPP-1, power transmission line-220 was extended to the construction site - the first high-voltage line in Eastern Siberia. In June 1954, the first concrete was laid into the foundation of the hydroelectric power station building. Two years later, the Angara was closed. And already at the end of 1957, the first power generating units with a capacity of 82.5 MW were put into commercial operation. In September 1958, the last, eighth, power unit was commissioned ahead of schedule. The Irkutsk hydroelectric power station began to operate at full design capacity with an annual output of 4.2 billion kW/h of electricity. The national economy of the Angara region received the cheapest electricity in the world. The long-time dream of Siberians to conquer the mighty Angara has come true.

After the construction of the hydroelectric power station, the level of Lake Baikal increased by almost 1 m; it became part of a reservoir with a total water volume of 46.4 cubic km. The main part of this volume (99%) falls on the lake bowl. At the same time, the Irkutsk reservoir (like the Bratsk reservoir) became a reservoir of long-term regulation, which made it possible to regulate the inflow of about half of the Angara flow into the sites of the Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power stations.

In the early 50s, when designing a hydroelectric power station, Hydroproject engineers proposed to create a hole at the source of the Angara by using a directed explosion to increase the power of all hydroelectric power stations of the Angara cascade. The fact is that the volume of its flow and the level of discharge of the Irkutsk reservoir were limited by the level of the river bottom at its source. This limitation affected the capacity of the source and, consequently, the flow of water at the Irkutsk hydroelectric station, especially at low levels of Lake Baikal. The chief engineer of the Angara sector of the Moscow branch of the Hydroproject, N.A. Grigorovich, proposed creating a 25 m deep hole at the source of the river (at the Shaman Stone), which would make it possible to additionally direct about 120 cubic km/year of water to the Angara and thereby increase the average annual electricity production by Irkutsk and Bratsk hydroelectric power stations for 32 billion kWh. However, this idea caused protests and remained unrealized. Irkutsk scientists, writers and public figures published an open letter of protest in Literaturnaya Gazeta in October 1958.

The Irkutsk hydroelectric power station was the first in a cascade of planned hydroelectric power stations on the Angara and the first large hydroelectric power station in Eastern Siberia. It has become a kind of talent forge. Hydrobuilders and power engineers who completed school here subsequently worked successfully at other hydroelectric power stations in Siberia: Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Krasnoyarsk, Khantaisk, Sayano-Shushenskaya, Zeyskaya.

Bratsk hydroelectric power station

When preparing the project for the construction of the second Angarsk hydroelectric power station, three options for locating the hydroelectric power station were considered: in the Dubyninsky, Bratsky and Padunsky narrowings. Placing the dam at the Dubyninsky narrowing, 45 km below the Padunsky threshold, made it possible to create a larger reservoir, but required additional preparatory work and increased the duration of construction. The creation of a hydroelectric complex on the Bratsk rapids, above the then existing railway bridge of the Taishet-Lena highway, made it possible to preserve this bridge and part of the coastal section of the railway, but also required significant costs due to the worst geological conditions of the site. The Padunskoye narrowing, between Cape Pursey and the Crane's Breast rock, located 30 km north of old Bratsk, turned out to be the most suitable. The narrowing was an almost 4-kilometer section of the river, compressed by steep cliffs. It was formed by a powerful layered intrusion of traps that came to the surface. Here, along a narrow corridor less than 1 km wide, a flow of water with a capacity of 2.9 thousand cubic meters per second made its way.

In 1949, an expedition appeared in the area of ​​the future hydroelectric power station to study its site. Five years later, preparatory work began, and in 1956, the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved the design assignment for the construction of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 3,600 MW (later the capacity was increased to 4,500 MW). To provide the new building with electricity, a 628 km long power line was laid from the Irkutsk hydroelectric station to Bratsk. By November 1957, earlier than the regulatory deadlines, it was put under voltage. At the beginning of 1957, almost two-thirds of the right bank section of the river was blocked from ice. The shutdown in winter made it possible to reduce the cost and reduce the construction time for the foundation pit of the first stage of the hydroelectric power station by many months. In March 1959, the first concrete was laid in the foundation of the dam. In June 1959, the closure of the left bank 110-meter section of the Angara began, and in a record short time (19 days), the Bratskgesstroy team directed the rapid flow of the high-water Angara through the spillway openings of the concrete dam. In June 1960, the installation of the first power unit began, which by November 1961 was put under industrial load. After just over five years, the reservoir was filled to its design level and the power of the hydroelectric station reached 4.1 GW. At the same time, about 4 cubic meters of water were consumed to generate 1 kW/h of electricity. In 1967, the state commission accepted the hydroelectric power station into operation.

As a result of the construction of the dam, the water of the Angara rose to a height of 130 m and a reservoir was formed with an area of ​​about 5.5 thousand sq. km and with a water volume of 169.3 cubic km, or 1.85 of the annual flow of the Angara at the site of the hydroelectric power station. The backwater of the reservoir extended to 570 km along the Angara, 370 km along the Oka River and 180 km along the Iya River.

Before the creation of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, only two large reservoirs were operated in Siberia: Irkutsk on the Angara and Novosibirsk on the Ob. The Bratsk Reservoir has become the largest artificial reservoir in the world. It exceeded in size the Aswan Reservoir on the Nile River and at that time was comparable only to the Kariba Reservoir on the Zambezi River in Southern Rhodesia.

The flood zone of the man-made Bratsk Sea included 130 thousand hectares of agricultural land, dozens of collective farms, 16 thousand rural households, a section of the Lena Railway and a railway bridge across the Angara River. 57 industrial enterprises and 238 settlements had to be moved from the reservoir zone, including Bratsk, Zayarsk, Ust-Uda, Telma, Balagansk, Nukuty, Tanguy and many other famous villages of the Angara region. Some relocation work was carried out in the cities of Svirsk and Usolye-Sibirsk. About 40 million cubic meters of forest were in the flood zone. For its effective removal, Giprolestrans specialists proposed an original method. Some of the harvested wood was tied into rafts and left on the banks. The rise of water in the reservoir forced the rafts to float, and towing boats delivered them to places of consumption and storage, mainly to the Bratsk timber industry complex.

Simultaneously with the construction of the hydroelectric power station, a powerful construction base was created in the area, hundreds of kilometers of asphalt roads were laid, social infrastructure facilities and large industrial enterprises were built that could consume the generated electricity.

The Bratsk hydroelectric power station has become one of the largest in the world. Its capacity is three times higher than the capacity of power plants, the creation of which was provided for by the GOELRO plan. One of its turbines is 4 times more powerful than all the turbines at the Volkhov hydroelectric station. In terms of total installed capacity, the Bratsk hydroelectric power station is second only to the Krasnoyarsk and Sayano-Shushenskaya. Every year, the Bratsk hydroelectric power station produces about 25 billion kWh of electricity - approximately the same as the Kuibyshev and Stalingrad hydroelectric power stations combined.

Ust-Ilimskaya HPP

The site for the construction of the third hydroelectric power station of the Angara cascade was chosen below the mouth of the Ilim River, 250 km from Bratsk, near Tolstoy Mys. The first landing party to the site of the future hydroelectric power station arrived in December 1962. Construction of the hydroelectric complex began in March 1966. In February 1967, the left bank part of the Angara channel was blocked, and in August 1969, its right bank part. During the construction of the hydroelectric complex, the construction base of Bratskgesstroy was used. The hydroelectric power station was put into operation in 1974.

In terms of installed capacity (4.3 GW), the Ust-Ilimsk HPP is comparable to the Bratsk HPP, but surpasses it in economic indicators. The volume of the water mass of the Ust-Ilimsk reservoir is 59 cubic km, the area of ​​the water surface is 1.8 thousand sq. km. It extends in the valley of the Angara and its tributary, the Ilim. The length of the Angara reach is 302 km, the Ilimsky Bay is 299 km. The maximum width of the reservoir is 10-12 km.

Sukhovskaya and Telminskaya hydroelectric power stations

In the mid-50s, projects were developed for the construction of two more hydroelectric power stations on the Angara, with an installed capacity of 400 MW each. They were supposed to be located between the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station and the Bratsk reservoir: one near the Sukhovskaya railway station, the other near the ancient Siberian village of Telma. Each hydroelectric power station had to have a dam with a head of 12 m. This would create two reservoirs with an area of ​​63 sq. km (Sukhovskoe) and 91 sq. km (Telminskoe) with a water volume of 0.4 cubic km each, which would provide average annual electricity generation up to 1.6-1.9 billion kWh. However, the presence of large Angara hydroelectric power stations and an excess of electricity in the Angara region made the construction of these hydroelectric power stations irrelevant, at least in the medium term.

Mamakanskaya HPP

In the 50s, in the Lensky gold mining region, on the Mamakan River (a tributary of the Vitim), work began on the construction of the Mamakan hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 102 MW with an average annual electricity generation of 0.4 billion kW/h. In January 1957, construction of the main hydraulic structures began. The hydroelectric power station was put into operation in 1962. It became the first powerful hydroelectric power station located in the Lena River basin, on permafrost. Before its construction (since the pre-revolutionary period), only a few small hydroelectric power stations operated here, and in 1934 the Mamakan thermal power station was built.

Electricity from the Mamakan hydroelectric power station is needed for the Lensky gold mining and Mamsko-Chuysky mica regions. The commissioning of this hydroelectric power station contributed to the development of the gold and mica industries here and allowed the launch of new high-performance dredges, excavators and hydraulic monitors. The Bodaibo region has received a fairly stable energy supply. However, a feature of the hydroelectric power station’s operating mode is the low availability of runoff in winter. Nevertheless, the Mamakan hydroelectric station plays an important role in the power supply of the region, remaining the main source of electricity even after its connection to the unified energy system.

Telmamskaya HPP

This hydroelectric power station is still under construction. It will operate in one cascade of the Mamakanskaya HPP and will increase the total electricity generation in the Mamsko-Bodaybinsky mining region. The hydroelectric complex is being built on the Mamakan River, upstream of the existing Mamakan hydroelectric power station. The installed capacity of the Telmamskaya HPP is 420 MW, the average annual output is 1.6 billion kW/h. The operation of these two hydroelectric power stations in one cascade will increase the utilization rate of energy resources of the Mamakan River.

(To be continued).

In the photo: Construction of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station dam. Summer 1965
Photo by E. Bryukhanenko.

The Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, built on the Angara, 65 km from its source, had a great influence on the lake’s ecosystem. The creation of the Irkutsk reservoir caused a backwater of water, which spread to and raised its level to an average of 1 m. The lake began to serve as a reservoir not only for annual, but also for long-term regulation, which made it possible to obtain the cheapest electricity in the country.

The negative environmental consequences of increasing the level of Lake Baikal include the following:

a) 600 km 2 of land went under water, 127 settlements were flooded. Of these, 3.3 thousand households were evicted, 17 thousand people were resettled;

b) a “technological” zone was created in the waters of Lake Baikal, periodically flooded or flooded when the reservoir reaches high levels. This zone covers over 1200 km 2 of coastal lands, mainly in low areas on the east coast;

c) abrasion destruction of banks and bank protection structures began at higher elevations. Landslide and scree processes on coastal slopes have intensified;

d) litter is exposed to dangerous effects. Many of them are nurseries for juvenile omul. When Lake Baikal maintains high levels, erosion of the spits occurs. This is how the area of ​​the island-spit of Yarka, which fences off the Angarsky Sor from Lake Baikal, is gradually decreasing. If the lake level is too high. Baikal, the water exchange of the sor system with open Baikal decreases, which has a negative impact on the conditions of fish spawning due to the direct loss of part of the spawning grounds;

e) the anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem of shallow waters is complicated by the constant change in the level regime due to the need to regulate the inflow of water for the coordinated operation of the entire Angarsk cascade of hydroelectric power stations and water transport on the Yenisei.

Source: Baikal Studies: textbook. allowance / N. S. Berkin, A. A. Makarov, O. T. Rusinek. – Irkutsk: Irkutsk Publishing House. state University, 2009.

Read on Irkipedia

Terms

Other resources

Literature

1. Irkutsk hydroelectric power station. - Irkutsk: Irkutskenergo. - 40 s.
2. Hydroelectric power stations of Russia. - M.: Printing house of the Hydroproject Institute, 1998. - 467 p.
3. Verbolov V.I., Sinykovich V.N., Karpysheva N.L. Changes in the water regime of Baikal after the construction of the Irkutsk hydroelectric station // Geography and natural resources, Novosibirsk: Science. No. 1,1992.-S. 50-56
4. Bochkarev P.F. Hydrochemistry of rivers in Eastern Siberia. Irkutsk: Vost. Sib. publishing house, 1959.- 156 p.
5. Bortnikova S.B. Technogenic lakes: formation, development and impact on the environment / S.B. Bortnikova, O.L. Gaskova, A.A. Airiyants // Novosibirsk: Publishing House SB RAS, 2003. 120 p.

Krasnoyarsk ecologists predict the river will turn into a dead lake

Only one river originates from Baikal - the Angara. It flows through the territory of the Irkutsk region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and is a right tributary of the Yenisei. Today the Angara is blocked by three hydroelectric power stations - Irkutsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk. In the near future, another hydroelectric power station will appear on the river - Boguchanskaya. Krasnoyarsk ecologists were the first to talk about the fact that, due to such a cascade, the Angara hydroelectric power station could turn into a “dead lake” in the near future. The Irkutsk people are silent for now, since everyone is puzzled by the problems of preserving Lake Baikal and the fight against the BPPM. Meanwhile, among our neighbors in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, environmentalists have launched a whole project “Angara - a living river”. This is especially important for them, since the construction of the Motyginskaya hydroelectric power station is being discussed in the region.

The project “Angara - a living river” was headed by the chairman of the Krasnoyarsk regional public environmental organization “Dam” Alexey Kolpakov. “The idea came during an ecological expedition to the Angara in the summer of 2009,” he says. - We managed to carry out rafting along the river from the proposed site of the Motyginskaya hydroelectric power station and all the way to the village of Motygino. A variety of material was filmed. In general, it immediately became clear to all participants that the Angara, in those places where there are no hydroelectric power stations or large enterprises, is an unusually beautiful, majestic and clean river.”

In order for others to see what a real, living Angara looks like, environmentalists held a photo exhibition. Alexey Kolpakov says: they needed to show Krasnoyarsk residents what they could lose if they continued to build hydroelectric power stations on the Angara. As this topic was discussed by ecologists and new ideas were put forward, they decided to organize a project. “Members of Plotina took part in the work on it, as well as people who of their own free will helped us,” says Kolpakov. “Mostly young people.”

As part of the project, environmental actions took place, as well as a public lecture by archaeological scientists on the archaeological heritage of the Lower Angara region. Environmentalists organized meetings with residents of villages located near the Angara. To convey to people the need to support the movement to protect the river was, perhaps, the main goal of the “Dam”. And they succeeded. The Angara - Living River project was supported not only by residents of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, but also by the largest river protection organization, the International River Network (USA).

Our organization deals with environmental problems of the Lower Angara region, mainly related to hydroelectric power stations,” says Alexey Kolpakov. - We have been working since 2007. In 2009 they became a public organization. Now a significant part of the work is related to the construction of the Boguchanskaya and Motyginskaya hydroelectric power stations.

The project participants conducted their research and collected the necessary material about the negative impact of the hydroelectric power station on the Angara. “In 2007, the investors of BoGES - the companies RusHydro and Rusal - signed contracts with scientific organizations of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA), says Alexey Kolpakov. - Full-scale studies were planned on the impact of the BoHPP on the Angara. In 2007, the EIA materials were to be presented to the public for suggestions and comments. However, RusHydro and Rusal never fulfilled their promises and legal requirements. The EIA work has been completed in full, the materials have been handed over to the customer, but he is not letting them proceed.”

Krasnoyarsk environmentalists have only the “Social and Environmental Assessment of the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectric Power Station on the Angara River” conducted by the Ecoline Center for Environmental Assessment. However, Kolpakov notes that the Ecoline conclusion is not an EIA; many issues have not been worked out there, including issues of compensation for negative impacts on the environment. Ecologists also have separate works by scientists predicting the impact of the BoHPP on the Angara.

In general, based on these materials, we can say that the impact on the Angara from the construction of the BoHPP will be colossal,” says Alexey Kolpakov. - Huge areas of land and forests are flooded. About 14 thousand people need to be resettled. The impact on the hydrochemistry, flora and fauna of the Angara will be large-scale and, in many respects, irreversible. It is difficult to estimate archaeological losses. “Thanks to” the BoGES, the culture of the Russian old-timer population of the Lower Angara region - the culture of the Angara people - was destroyed. BoGES is being built at 208 meters. This means that its reservoir will abut the site of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station. “Thus, the Angara will lose its ability to self-clean. In fact, we will get a cascade of reservoirs, not a free river,” says the ecologist. According to his forecasts, the Angara will become a dead river when the BoHPP reaches full capacity. The launch schedule is scheduled for 2012.

If hydrobuilders push through the Motyginskaya HPP project, then we can completely forget about the Angara as a river,” Kolpakov believes. - From the MoHPP to the mouth of the Angara there will be only 140 kilometers. Everything else is a chain of reservoirs.

Answering the question “Do you cooperate with Irkutsk ecologists?”, Alexey Kolpakov expressed hope that in the future their colleagues from the Angara region will join in solving the river’s problems. “I am convinced that a social movement should be formed to protect and preserve the Angara,” says the ecologist. - Everyone who lives on the river from Baikal to the Yenisei should join this movement. The Angara problem is interregional, it concerns both the Irkutsk region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. And Buryatia too, since the level of Lake Baikal depends on new and old hydroelectric power stations. It is very difficult to achieve anything alone. We all must realize the danger of the Angara disappearing as a river.” Once upon a time, the Angara-185 organization operated in Irkutsk. According to Alexey Kolpakov, her work was quite successful, but nothing has been heard about her for several years. “At different stages of our work, we collaborated with the Baikal Ecological Wave,” says the ecologist. - However, now Irkutsk residents are more concerned about Baikal. And this is very clear to us. We certainly support the efforts of BEV in their work on the BPPM issue. This is a very large and complex job. Therefore, the BEV probably simply does not have time for the problems of the Angara.”

Krasnoyarsk defenders of the Angara can only hope that activists will appear in the cities of the Irkutsk region who are ready to join the movement to protect the river. “It would be very good if they contacted us,” says Alexey Kolpakov. - For Irkutsk residents, the problems of hydroelectric power stations are of particular importance, because so far all Angarsk hydroelectric power stations are located on the territory of the Irkutsk region. And your region suffers from them and various industrial enterprises the most. BoGES also brings big problems to the Irkutsk region related to flooding, resettlement, and the environment.”

There is no danger

We talked with the head of the territorial department of water resources for the Irkutsk region of the Yenisei Basin Water Administration, Mikhail Ludwig, about how Irkutsk views the forecasts of Krasnoyarsk ecologists. He is firmly convinced that nothing threatens the Angara today. “I believe there is no danger as such,” he said. - There are different opinions regarding the construction of BoHPP: some are for, some are against. “I believe that the hydroelectric power station will not seriously affect the condition of the river if all requirements are met and the progress of construction is monitored.”

According to Ludwig, what really needs to be seriously thought about is the problem of discharges into the Angara. “We need to think about who lives next to the river and what they dump there,” says Mikhail Ludwig. - We need to think about what we are doing around the Angara itself, and not about what is being built on it. Of course, there is some impact from the construction of a hydroelectric power station, and the draft EIA probably calculates what will happen to the climate. Villages will have to be moved, and fertile lands will be flooded. This damage will, of course, happen. It's unavoidable".

What do we know about the river?

The name Angara comes from the root “anga”, which in translation from the Buryat language means “open”, “opened”, “yawning”, as well as “cleft”, “gorge”. The name of the river was first mentioned in the 13th century. The total length of the Angara is 1779 km. In its basin there are more than 38 thousand different rivers and streams with a total length of 162 thousand 603 km, which is four times the circumference of the Earth at the equator. The Angara gets its food from Lake Baikal. The construction of hydroelectric power stations and reservoirs greatly complicated the natural connection of the river with Lake Baikal and led to a significant transformation in the species composition of flora and fauna. Since 1956, after the formation of the reservoir of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, the size of the polynya on the Angara decreased from 10-15 to 3-4 km. Due to a sharp reduction in the size of the polynya and an increase in its depth, the number of birds wintering on the Angara decreased from 10 thousand to 2-3.5 thousand.

What will happen to the river?

With the launch of another hydroelectric power station, the flow of the Angara will decrease, which will inevitably lead to siltation and blooming of the water in the river.

Spawning areas will be lost, resulting in the death of fish and food resources. Such valuable fish species as grayling and taimen will no longer be in the Angara.

If land areas are flooded, about 9 million cubic meters of wood will go under water, which will also affect the quality of water in the Angara. The destruction of the river banks is inevitable.

Angara will cease to be a favorite vacation spot. According to scientists, the reservoir will not replace a real living river for local residents, so the loss of the Angara’s recreational potential is invaluable.

A hydroelectric power station complex on the Angara River, with a total operating capacity of 9,017.4 MW, an average annual production of 48.4 billion kW/h, or 4.8% of total consumption in the country.

After completion of the Boguchanskaya HPP in 2012, the installed capacity of the cascade will reach 12,017.4 MW. Taking into account the stations being designed and under construction, the cascade consists of seven stages:

* first stage - Irkutsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 662.4 MW;

* second stage - Bratsk HPP with a capacity of 4,515 MW;

* third stage - Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 3840 MW;

* fourth stage - the Boguchanskaya HPP under construction with a design capacity of 3000 MW;

* fifth stage - the projected Nizhneboguchanskaya HPP with a capacity of 660 MW;

* sixth stage - the projected Motyginskaya HPP (Vydumskaya HPP) with a capacity of 1145 MW;

* seventh stage - the projected Strelkovskaya hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 920 MW.

All hydroelectric power stations are located in the Irkutsk region and Krasnoyarsk territory.

Hydroelectric power stations play an important role in ensuring the stability of the energy system of Siberia and the European part of Russia. Thanks to them, hundreds of industrial enterprises in Siberia operate. Electricity generated by the three hydroelectric power plants is also exported to China.

The generous waters of the Angara. The economically effective potential of its flow, that is, that which today can be used to serve the national economy, is estimated at twenty million kilowatts. Five hydroelectric power stations are planned on this river, although the fifth is only half Angara... Four of the five are giants, with a capacity of four to five million kilowatts each.

Modern technical thought is aimed at developing the energy resources of Siberia.

The future of the taiga region, what is it like!

The idea of ​​energy development of the Angara was laid down in the GOELRO plans. Now Lenin’s thoughts about the electrification of the country have received a real embodiment.

The Angarsk hydropower cascade is no longer just a project. Two power plants - Irkutsk, the first-born of the cascade, where ideas and methods for constructing large hydraulic structures were tested and experience was accumulated, and Bratsk, with a capacity of five million kilowatts, the first Siberian giant - operate, sending electric current to the energy ring of Central Siberia.

To the north of Bratsk, downstream of the Angara, the construction of the third stage of the cascade, the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station, is underway. Its first units will come under load in the current five-year period.

The construction of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station is similar and not similar to the construction of the Bratsk hydroelectric station. Both here and there have almost the same geological structure and climate, the pressure of the river at the Padun narrowing is similar to the pressure at the diabase Tolstoy Cape, not far from which the Klim flows. But...

Now, when Bratsk is nearby, when there is a highway between it and Ust-Ilimsk, through marshy swamps and taiga, when a railway has been laid between the Khrebtovaya station on the eastern wing of the Trans-Siberian Railway and Ust-Ilimsk, when turboprop planes fly, the time for tents seems far away and paths laid through the impassable taiga. This time is remembered only by prospectors and the first builders, and by German Konstantinovich Sukhanov, now a Hero of Socialist Labor, chief engineer of the project of all three hydroelectric power stations - Irkutsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk.

If you look at the construction from a hundred-meter height of the Tolstoy Cape, you will see a panorama created in the taiga by man: an openwork metal bridge of a concrete overpass hanging over the bubbling waters of the Angara; it is blocked by a growing dam wall. On the right bank there is a railway station. On the left are the buildings of the industrial base, and further, among the ship's pines, the neighborhoods of the new Ust-Ilimsk grow. Pines on the streets of the city speak volumes: you won’t see them in Bratsk...

Boguchany. Why did the Kodinsky target win?

The fourth link of the Angara cascade is the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station. This is still tomorrow, but you can look into this tomorrow. It is being prepared by the All-Union Institute "Hydroproject".

In a high-rise building, as if cut into the sky, next to the Sokol metro station in Moscow, a group of engineers led by Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Blond is working on the Boguchanskaya HPP project.

For many years, the chief engineer’s thoughts have been occupied with the lower reaches of the Angara, where a dam should intercept it. The hydraulic system exists in rustling sheets of tracing paper, on pages dotted with columns of numbers, tables of engineering calculations, model test data, and reports from the Boguchansky expedition.

The headquarters of this expedition became Kodinskaya Zaimka. Here, on the banks of the Angara, among the recently remote taiga, in log huts darkened by time and bad weather, in newly built houses made of timber, in trailers and tents, prospectors, geologists, and workers live and work. The chief engineer of the project often comes here.

At the Kodinsky site, the river, squeezed by steep banks, accelerates its flow and noisily invades the pile of rocks. Despite the fact that here the Angara is hundreds of kilometers away from its source - Lake Baikal, it is still cold and unusually clean - you can see every pebble in the depths. The Angara brings one and a half hundred cubic kilometers of water to the Yenisei. Both rivers flow for a long time in the same channel without mixing - the crystal clear Angara side by side with the agitated Yenisei...

The construction site of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station was not immediately chosen. Two sections - Mursky and Kodinsky - were considered by the designers. Mursky made it possible to build a more powerful station and generate an additional two billion kilowatt-hours per year. However, research showed that the price asked for this increase was too high. Twice as much space was flooded. This means that much more of the famous Angara pine would have to be cut down. And the lands freed from the forest would be captured by the water surface, and it would threaten to flood the iron ore deposits.

The Kodinsky section won also because the intended valley is composed of strong igneous and sedimentary rocks. In other words, having blocked the flow, the dam will rest against a rocky bottom, its foundation will be strong granites and diabases, capable of becoming one with a concrete and rockfill dam. The height of this wall across the river is one hundred meters (a thirty-three-story building!), the length is almost three kilometers...

On Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Blond’s table is a sketch of the future dam, made by the artist as if from an airplane height. The drawing is not a fantasy, it is accurate in terms of basic engineering parameters.

The mighty current of the Angara is sharply crossed in a straight line by the strip of the dam. As if driven into the chaos of the coastal rocks, it locks, tightens the expanse of the upper pool, and takes on the gigantic weight of the water. Intercepted and stopped by a concrete barrier, the river overflowed widely, turned back, and filled the basin to the top. The stream has been transformed into a huge lake.

The concrete dam is lined with expansion joint lines. In its center is a square platform with high-voltage transmission masts. The currently invisible wires will receive the electric current generated nearby, below the dam. There, in the turbine room, hydraulic units with a total capacity of four million kilowatts will be built.

Of course, the drawing does not allow us to clearly see, through space and time, the future hydraulic system in detail. The city that lies where the pine trees are now rustling and prospectors are conducting reconnaissance is also not visible. But of course: the taiga life of the village of Boguchany will change. The railway has almost reached it now. Located in the lower reaches, it was connected with the outside world only in the summer - through country roads and a river, dangerous with its riffles, rifts, and rapids. The ships had to wait for high water...

A chain of artificial seas on the Angara will help create a navigable fairway. Designers are thinking about equipping the Boguchansky hydroelectric complex, as well as the Irkutsk, Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric complexes with ship lifts or lock chambers. A deep-water route will open between Lake Baikal and the lower reaches of the river, and navigation of ships along the tributaries of the Angara, now shallow, will become possible. The river, which will be regulated along its entire length, will become a powerful freight and passenger highway.

Let's move on to the last of the five planned hydroelectric power stations, which were supposed to be fed by the waters of the Angara and Yenisei. But first of all, about what seriously influenced the project of this hydroelectric power station...

Discovery offered by the river

The Gorevsky ore fields, located in the lower reaches of the Angara, owe their discovery to the Irkutsk reservoir, although it is located about one and a half thousand kilometers from them.

And this is what happened: when they began to fill the Irkutsk Sea with water, they had to tightly shut off the flow. And the water level, even in such a powerful artery as the Angara, has dropped sharply along its entire length. In some places the bottom was exposed, especially where the river is dotted with rifts and shoals; rocks, sand mounds, and spits appeared. In the lower reaches of the river, near the Gorevoy stream, sharp ridges of some mineral bristled above the water. They immediately attracted the attention of the young geologist Yuri Glazyrin, who was surveying the area...

Due to the “fault” of the discovered Gorevskaya deposit of polymetallic ores, the project of a hydroelectric complex on the Yenisei, below the mouth of the Angara, hung in the air. The previously chosen site was not suitable: the construction of a waterworks on the connected drainage of two rivers would lead to flooding of the lower reaches of the Angara, where the ore fields lie. It is clear that the proposed construction has become highly questionable, or at least undesirable. Indeed, who would dare to drown a good deposit!

At first, the discovery of geologists puzzled and upset the designers of the Hydroproject, where they were preparing a scheme for the use of water resources in Eastern Siberia. But nature, as if anticipating the needs of man of our century, presented him with a gift. When the Angara-Yenisei energy-industrial complex was formed, it included timber, iron, coal, shipping, and now an excellent set of polymetallic ores has been added... The designers put the previous schemes aside and began to study the problem in all its complexity. Instead of determining the boundaries of flooding of the lower reaches of the Angara, the designers took up the exact opposite question: how to best protect the Gorevskoye field from water. It stretches deep down, penetrated by underground springs, and branches to the north under the taiga.

But the hydroelectric complex is not off the agenda at all, it needs to be built, the only question is where exactly. The surveyors went through all the sections known to them, the height and structure of the watersheds, and carefully weighed each of its pros and cons. And only seven variants of the Angara-Yenisei complex withstood the onslaught of facts and opinions.

The chief engineer of the project, Nikolai Ivanovich Kochkin, shows maps, diagrams, and developments of these seven options. It is worth considering them in more detail to feel the scope of technical thought aimed today at mastering the energy and geological riches of the taiga.

Where is the mouth of the Angara?

So, the first option. It combines energy, canal and mining into one hub. His program is two hydroelectric complexes, one on the Angara, the other on the Yenisei, the resettlement of the mouth through which one hundred and fifty cubic kilometers of water flows annually. (Let me remind you: one cubic kilometer is a thousand million cubic meters.)

The Angara bed above the Gorevskaya deposit will be closed by a blind dam. It will be built in the Ust-Taseevsky section, above the current mouth of the Angara. An artificial storage facility is formed where the channel begins; it will cross the watershed along the left bank, cut through sands and quartz shales and flow into the Yenisei.

The width of the artificial channel along the bottom is three hundred meters, narrower in places; the length along the bottom is twenty-five kilometers, and along the water surface - eighteen. This “contradiction” is explained by the fact that the two seas, the Angara and the Yenisei, will spill freely and push their bays towards each other...

The cross-section of the future channel of the Angara, in addition to calculations, was determined by experiments. In the laboratory of the institute in Tushino, the designed channel was modeled on a large-scale tray. The variable speed of the current was reproduced depending on the time of year. Tests have shown that the canal will cope with the responsibilities of the mouth and will be able to transfer the Angara flow to the Savinsky section on the Yenisei.

The second hydroelectric complex will rise here - the Sredne-Yenisei Hydroelectric Power Station. The spacious valley - three kilometers between the banks - will be crossed by a dam with a hydroelectric power station in the riverbed and a ship lift. A capacious ship-carrying tub on rails stretched along the shore will be able to transport ships and rafts from the upper to the lower tail and back.

The total annual flow of the two rivers in the Savinsky alignment is two hundred and fifty cubic kilometers. Fueled by seven million kilowatts of turbine blades, it would produce thirty-five billion kilowatt-hours per year.

The second option is the first, but expanded into two stages. First they build the Middle Yenisei hydroelectric power station, then the Angarsk hydroelectric power station. In connection with this sequence, the Gorevskaya deposit will need to be protected from the river by a dam, a cementation curtain lowered into the bowels of the earth, and a drainage entwined around the quarries to drain groundwater.

The third option also provides for two waterworks, one each on the Angara and Yenisei. But there is neither a canal nor a blind dam! Thanks to the hydroelectric complex built above the Gorevskaya polymetallic deposit, Angara acquires a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of four million kilowatts. And the ancient mouth remains intact.

Ore mining is carried out under the protection of two dams - upper and lower, a cementation curtain and drainage trenches in order to reject foreign and local water and guarantee complete, one hundred percent dryness of the mines.

However, if wells drilled hundreds of meters deep do not find too much moisture along the way, then at the very mouth of the Angara (below the Strelkovsky rapids) it is planned to build a transport hydroelectric complex, with a hydroelectric power station that is small on a Siberian scale.

The Yenisei has not been forgotten either. According to the third option, the Sredne-Yenisei hydroelectric power station is being built in the same Savinsky site as in the first and second options, but uses only the Yenisei runoff.

The fourth option is also original. He, like the third, proposes to use the flow of the Angara and Yenisei separately; on the first there is one hydraulic unit, on the second there are two. At the Abalakovsky site (below the mouth of the Angara), a hydroelectric power station is being built on the Angara-Yenisei drainage. The artificial sea will stretch up both the Yenisei and the Angara. This means that the Gorevskaya deposit will have to be protected with dams, a curtain, and enhanced drainage.

On the Yenisei, at the Predivinsky narrowing (above the mouth of the Angara), a second hydroelectric complex will rise. On the Angara, in the Shiver Vydumsky Bull, the third will stand. Their total power is seven million kilowatts.

The fifth option seems to repeat the idea of ​​the first - the Angara is taken away from the lower reaches. The program includes three hydroelectric complexes - one on the Yenisei, two on the Angara, both of which are blind dams to protect the quarries on both sides. The waters of the Angara will be sent not along the left, but along the right bank, bypassing the Gorevskaya deposit, to the Abalakovsky site, where they are planning to build a hydroelectric complex with a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of eight million kilowatts. And according to this option, two stages of construction are possible.

The sixth option is to combine river flows at the Savinsky site. The program includes three hydroelectric complexes - two on the Angara, one on the Yenisei. Construction in two stages.

Finally, the seventh option analyzes the familiar Abalakovsky site. The largest number of hydroelectric complexes is planned - five: two on the Yenisei, two on the Angara and one on the connecting canal between the two rivers. And also construction in two stages.

These are, in brief, the main features of the seven options for the Angara-Yenisei energy complex. What assessment will the experts give them, which one will they prefer? To be frank, each of the Big Seven has a chance of success: in the world practice of hydraulic structures there has been no equal in either the boldness of the plan or the scale of the work. There is no doubt that another complex, similar and different from its predecessors in Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Krasnoyarsk, Sayan, will arise in the vastness of Eastern Siberia. The scope of its economy will be wide: the extraction of polymetallic ores, bauxite, iron, non-ferrous and rare metals, coal, talc, as well as forest chemicals, fish farming in two artificial seas - the Angarsk and Yenisei, the construction of cities and towns. Naturally, in addition to the Hydroproject, many scientific institutes and other organizations are involved in the development of the future complex. After all, a dozen and a half sectors of our economy are interested in a rational solution to this engineering and technical plan. There are not only power engineers here, but also builders, miners, navigators, road workers, architects, metallurgists, and chemists. Here are fish farmers, reclamation workers, and forest managers - all those who think about preserving the diverse riches of the taiga now and in the future, when the energy of the entire Angara will be put to the service of people.

More about Hangar

I would like to supplement Georgy Blok’s article with an explanation of why the Angara is unique as an energy source. The reasons lie in the hydrological features of this taiga river.

A significant part of the Angara flow - more than half at the Bratsk dam site and more than one third at the mouth - is regulated by Lake Baikal. The rest of the water flows from tributaries directly into the Angara, which means that the river flow is quite uniform throughout the year and the power of the turbines can be used much more fully than with uneven flow. The Angara has a deeply incised valley, and this allows large volumes of water to be accumulated in reservoirs with relatively smaller flood areas than on lowland rivers. The general fall of the Angara from Lake Baikal to its mouth is also great, which means that the construction of several high-pressure waterworks is possible.

Here is one comparison as an example. The Nizhnekamsk hydroelectric power station, which is being built in the KamAZ area, in the flat part of the Kama River, will cost approximately the same as the Bratsk station, which produces 9-10 times more electricity.

But, no matter how significant the energy resources of the region are, the main wealth of the Angara region is the taiga. It is no coincidence that I did not write the word “wood” or the more capacious word “forest”. I emphasize that the taiga is a complex natural complex, an infinitely diverse resource, both in terms of modern timber industry and wood chemistry, and in terms of diverse biological raw materials, but most importantly, in the ecological significance of the taiga zone for our country as a whole. We have not yet learned to economically evaluate the human environment. But every year, every five years, our responsibility for the rational use and protection of the taiga complex becomes clearer. Today it is important that we are unanimous not only in understanding this responsibility, but also act equally unanimously in practice...

Should timber industry complexes, such as the existing Bratsk and the Ust-Ilimsk ones under construction, only develop forests as raw materials? Are we not obligated to take care of the preservation of the taiga in industrial activities, in road construction, in the construction of cities, and in organizing everyday life and recreation? And of course, one of the big and important tasks during hydraulic construction should be a careful attitude towards preserving land (in this case, taiga) from excessive flooding. And if some territory has to be flooded, then it is necessary to use its natural resources as much as possible, before flooding. It is also necessary to increase the productivity of other territories so much that the loss of land during the creation of the reservoir is compensated.

What has been done in this direction in recent years in the Angara region? It must be admitted that in the recent past, not everything was done as it seems correct from the standpoint of today. For example, when preparing to fill the Bratsk Reservoir, the builders did not have sufficient technical resources and transport, and finally, there was no time to completely utilize and at least remove the timber. As a result, millions (!) of cubic meters of wood went under water, and the living taiga went under water. Preparation of the reservoir of the Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station is now taking place at a higher level, losses will be much less.

New villages and cities are also beginning to be built differently, the residential areas of which the architects fit into the taiga, without expelling it, without forcing it to retreat.

Several years ago, the USSR State Planning Committee decided to build the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station in the Kodinsky site to replace the previously planned Mursky one - what Georgy Blok writes about in his article. The entire drainage basin of a large tributary of the Angara - the Chadobetsky River, huge taiga massifs, which also contain ore deposits, will be preserved from flooding, protected from flooding and waterlogging by groundwater. Perhaps for the first time in our practice, the scales have tipped against energy...

The selection of an option from among the G7 is being prepared with even greater caution. Essentially, the most important thing when choosing the sites of these dams, when determining construction queues, timing of their implementation, etc. should be the task of rational use and protection of the taiga.

Back in 1958, the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR State Planning Committee, with the participation of local party, administrative and scientific organizations, held a large meeting in Irkutsk dedicated to the economic and social development of the Angara region. The plans outlined then are largely being implemented, and prospects are expanding even further. But at the same time, the main direction of development is increasingly emerging. The future of the Angara region is a region of large industry, convenient for living and working, and yet a taiga region.

S. L. Vendrov, Doctor of Geographical Sciences