A fire in the seawater cooling tower at the Qatalum Power Plant in Qatar, which supplies power to an aluminum plant, has not affected aluminum production, according to Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo, a partner in the facility. 

A fire in the seawater cooling tower at the Qatalum Power Plant in Qatar, which supplies power to an aluminum plant, has not affected aluminum production, according to Norsk Hydro ASA, Oslo, a partner in the facility. The power plant is a combined-cycle facility with the capacity to supply 1,350 MW to the aluminum manufacturing plant. There were no injuries. Qatalum continues to produce at full capacity. The gas turbines were unaffected by the fire, but the steam turbines were shut down as a precaution.

The power plant was built to meet high requirements for power supply regularity, since a power supply interruption of more than a few hours could result in severe damage to the aluminum production process. Power plant design included spare capacity.