UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil completed all the jobs related to shutting down and sealing the hydraulic appliances at its power station’s ash dump, the corporation’s press service reports.

The goal is to save money otherwise needed to get the facilities renovated and to renew operation permits, cut down on maintenance costs, and ensure maximum safety.

Located on the north-western outskirts of Nizhniy Tagil, the power station ash dump was used for storing ash and cinder, the by-products of earth coal burning, since 1961. It was originally designed to last till 1997 but stopped being useful when the power station switched to natural gas in 1995. From this point on, the dump was only meant for sluicing water used for cooling the station’s boilers.

After the power station started dumping its waste into the head plant’s filtering facilities in 2012, it was technologically and financially inexpedient to keep using the ash dump; besides, the 1m m3 of water in the fill could cause an emergency if left unattended.