Although Putin's call to inspect the facilities at all other hydro power stations, in the wake of the disaster at Sayano-Sushchenskaya, smacks of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, what else could he do? My immediate opinion was that the accident was the result of under-maintained and out of date machinery, but I've seen reports on the blogosphere that say different. Apparently it's not unusual for there to be 30-year old equipment in this line of business, but on the other hand, there should be significant fail-safe systems to prevent this happening. So it may be that we had a repeat of the Chernobyl accident, where the engineers switched off the safety systems to perform a routine task, and then something bad happened.
The problem is, as I am sure Putin is aware, that the inspectors and the hydro plants work hand in hand - and neither has an interest in reporting any problems. The inspector will negotiate a price for giving a favourable report, maybe with a few problems and criticisms to show that he's done his job, and the hydro plant will avoid any difficult questions. The inspector gets a miserly salary from the government for his inspections, but he gets paid well by the plant, so it's clear where his loyalties lie. And his bosses know that, because he is paying them on the side for his job. And everyone is happy in this system, until something goes wrong. Maybe some inspector will lose his job as a result of the investigation, but most likely the blame will be put on a dead shift manager.
What does this mean for the future of Russia? Lots more accidents of this type in Russia, with increasing frequency as time goes by. There is a Darwinian process at work here, though. Private sector companies won't be doing this - they are motivated to keep a much closer eye on the quality of their plant. Compare and contrast the quality of the plant at Domodedovo and Sheremetevo international airports in Moscow. The former was taken over by a private business group (*cough* Mafia *cough*), but is far superior to Sheremetevo, which is still part of the State. So on the one hand you can despair of Russia, because of the corruption that is so ingrained in the system, but at least you know that the corruption contains the seeds of its own destruction. It's a parasite that will eventually eat away at its host. The big question is how much of Russia will be left, after this collapse has happened - in general, Russia has endured over the years, and so I still believe that it will endure, even after the parasite has eaten away completely at its food base.
0 comments:
Post a Comment