A committee set up to investigate the causes of fire at Reftinskaya power station (part of OGK-5) based in Sverdlovsk Region reports the accident was caused by faulty equipment.

‘The initial designing mistakes as well as those made in the process of equipment-making eventually served as catalysts of the tragedy,’ says the press release of OGK-5. It also states finding the mistakes at the design and development stage was impossible, as back in the 70s designers just did not have the equipment needed for proper control and diagnostics.

The committee (headed by M. Lvov, Technical Audit and General Inspectorate Director of RAO UES of Russia, and consisting of the company’s executives, representatives of OGK-5, experts from the Department of Emergencies, Rostechnadzor, and scientific bodies) said the power station personnel was acting in compliance with the rules of emergency.