'Phase two' began after the explosion at the Suviana power plant, which follows the recovery of the victims and which focuses on the technical and judicial investigations to establish the causes of the collapse of the electricity production equipment on 9 April. A new chapter therefore opens to establish causes and possible responsibilities. Meanwhile, the operation continues, which is crucial for inspecting the entire plant, to completely empty levels eight and nine, which are still flooded.
The flood was not caused by the water from the lake but both by the explosion and the related damage to the cooling systems whose pipes burst, and by the copious quantity of water falling from above into the penstock coming from the adjacent lake Brasimone, another basin managed by Enel but on a higher orographic level. This pipe - lying on the hill and visible from kilometers away - carries the water in a cascade that moves the turbines of the energy production groups, then at the base there are pumps that push it back up. However, these pumps failed due to short circuits and explosions and the water flooded the floors.
Even so the victims died.
To reach the damaged machinery and carry out assessments it is necessary to remove the water. It will take days. Below there are also the two turbines with the transformer. Meanwhile, today a general technical inspection of the entire Bargi structure was also started. It has not yet been completed, but at the moment the operation would not have found any damage to the building, which suffered internal explosions. The same static checks, carried out with the help of the firefighters, have not revealed any problems so far.
Enel Green Power, having completed the direct relief phase for people, is now working towards a restart. Suviana is one of the national strategic plants for the production of electricity, a first line in case of emergency. There were meetings on how to plan the work. Furthermore, a summit, at an institutional level, is scheduled in the prefecture on Monday and will also take into consideration the effects of a judicial seizure.
In terms of investigations, the Bologna prosecutor's office already has a precious tool at its disposal, Scada, the so-called black box, in reality a system database which recorded all the operations in the plant, even during the testing on 9 April at the new turbine update software. The reading of Scada will probably be entrusted to the expertise of a consultant. The prosecutor's office, which has opened a case for manslaughter and manslaughter, currently against unknown persons, has already instructed the police to interview all the witnesses, starting with the injured and the other technicians who were in the plant at the time of the explosion. Those who have already been heard in the immediate aftermath of the emergency will be heard again. The oral testimonies will be cross-referenced by the investigators with the technical data.
Among the injured, the conditions remain stable, although still serious, of the two hospitalized with a reserved prognosis in the hospitals of Emilia-Romagna and of a third in Pisa, all with burns.
Attention to the matter continues from various sides. The head of the national civil protection Fabrizio Curcio spoke of an "intervention of great technical complexity" praising the firefighters and highlighting "the fairly significant margin of uncertainty" in which they acted, now, he added, "I imagine there is also the judicial activity and therefore we enter a different phase". Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani also spoke about Suviana, remembering the victims and urging "to continue working on workplace safety with non-ideological rules".