United Company RUSAL coordinated unscheduled security checks at its enterprises in order to make sure all the water development facilities are safe, the company’s press service reports.

These measures were taken after an accident occurred at Ajka Timfoldgyar plant in Hungary on October 4, 2010; over one million cubic meters of red mud oozed out of a leaking reservoir. The toxic waste flooded 40 sq m of the surrounding territory, including a few settlements in the west of Hungary. Nine people were killed in the accident, with fifty more still in hospital.

‘The facilities of Bogoslovskiy and Ural smelters, including the dust and mud storage areas, are operated in compliance with the normative requirements and are in satisfactory technical condition. No operation violations which could affect the environment have been detected,’ says UC RUSAL representative Roman Lukichev.

Now in May 2009, a leakage at Bogoslovskiy smelter’s water development facility actually caused a contamination of the River Turia, Sverdlovsk Region. UC RUSAL was not quick to admit its fault back then. The prosecution authorities’ investigation revealed that the discoloration of the water had been effected by a portion of industrial mud flushed into the tributaries of the river with some melting snow.