Lack of ash disposal may pose problem for Nalco

Angul: Nalco is facing problem due to non-evacuation of fly ash from its 1,200MW Captive Power Plant (CPP) for more than one week.

The Regional Pollution Control Board officials here after inspecting the two ashponds of the CPP have recommended to member secretary not to release any ash into the ash pond and stop operations of CPP which is vital to run the Nalco smelter plant.

Production of power from CPP has drastically reduced from more than 800MW to around 500MW forcing the company to import 300MW power from the State grid.A Nalco official said out of ten 120MW units in CPP, Nalco runs around 8 units per day to feed its smelter power plant and colony demand.But now the power generation has come down to a little more than 500MW per day due to non-disposal of ash from the power plant. He said the strike by Talcher Suraksha Manch from July 13in Talcher has blocked evacuation of fly ash through the slurry pipeline. Due to the strike, coal supply from Bharatpur coal mine through Merry Go Round(MGR) has come to a grinding halt since July 13.

The daily supply of coal has also been affected by the strike at Talcher. Officials said the power plant consumes around 11,000 tonne of coal per day and produces around 5,500 tonne of fly ash. As it couldn’t evacuate ash through pipeline, the power plant has been evacuating it to the ash pond.But the capacity of the pond is oversaturated and will last only three to four days.After that, there will be no evacuation of ash from power plant affecting the operation of the power plant.

He apprehended that unless the strike ends, Nalco will face unprecedented crisis. Talcher Suraksha Manch president Murali Sahoo said Nalco has failed to provide contractual appointment to 80 persons who have lost their land due to the pipeline. Therefore, the land oustees have launched the strike paralysing the movement of coal and slurry pipeline.