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Asbestos for Gorshkov okayed?

conworldus

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I thought India would stand its ground with Russia on this one. How hard is it to get some good firebricks?

Gorshkov: India okays use of asbestos for boiler insulation - Indian Express

Asbestos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asbestos on Navy Ships - How Exposure Can Lead to Cancer | Asbestos.net

More than two months after the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier suffered an embarrassing setback after its boilers malfunctioned during high speed trials in the Barents Sea, India has given a go ahead to the shipyard in charge of the project to use asbestos based insulation as part of the extensive repair package.

The aircraft carrier, which was to be handed over to India this month after a series of delays, suffered yet another roadblock after the insulation on its boilers broke down while the warship was carrying out sea trials, causing damage to critical equipment.

An analysis revealed that the fire-brick insulation that was used on the refurbished warship proved inadequate to handle the high temperatures and broke off. This lead to several media reports in Russia that blamed the Indian Navy for insisting on not using asbestos for insulation. Some reports even claimed that Chinese fire brick insulation was used, leading to a swift denial by Beijing.

However, Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi clarified on Monday that India was never against the use of asbestos-based insulation for the warship’s boilers in the first place but that the decision was taken by the contractors who are refitting the old warship.

“The insulation inside the boilers had become misplaced. Initially it (the insulation) had been kept asbestos free, which was a contractual stipulation. We had nothing to do with that decision. It was an internal decision of the supplier,” Admiral Joshi said, adding that the Navy became aware of the asbestos issue only after the snag developed during the trials.

The Navy has now decided to give the shipyard a go ahead after it proposed that the asbestos lining would be better. “We have concurred to their proposal that they want to go for asbestos based lining. This being a sealed unit, the environmental degradation factor externally is negligible. So we have concurred,” the Navy Chief said.

Speaking on the other major project of the Indian Navy, the Admiral said that ‘good news’ is expected soon on the Arihant indigenous nuclear missile submarine that is currently undergoing harbour trials in Visakhapatnam, hinting that the nuclear reactor of the boat would soon go critical.
 
not using asbestos was a stupid decision anyway . asbestos causes lung cancer and all only if it is inhaled while mining or breaking down . it does not matter if it well insulated with add on coating from crew members . they might never need to expose asbestos ever . and even while major mantainance they can just fit a gas mask and do the work .

i wonder if they did cut back on asbestos while fireproofing the ship and how well it will thrive then ( because all electric supply and such were fireproofed with asbestos previously ). and if so , what the new alternative is?
 
Indians don't know carrier design and building but insisted on dictating the material used. It blew up on their face and hope they've learnt their lesson.
 
It's a defeat for the Indian bureaucrats. But don't hold your breath, more problems will show up.
 

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