[Loki]

The Northwest is already seeing a low snowpack, which will reduce hydroelectric generation, now the Wanapum Dam has a big crack in it. The lowering of the reservoir will reduce generation at the dam, possibly eliminate it. This will also affect the rest of the hydrosystem since it's operated as a unit.

There's little danger of flooding as this is a run-of-the-river dam with minimal storage capacity.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') 65-foot-long crack in a Columbia River dam in central Washington has prompted officials to begin lowering the water level by 20 feet so inspectors can get a better idea of how serious the damage is.

There's no immediate threat to public safety from the crack in the Wanapum Dam, Grant County Public Utility District spokesman Thomas Stredwick said Friday. The dam is located just downstream from where Interstate 90 crosses the river....

The dam can generate more than 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power.

PUD officials are working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to determine how best to repair the cracked pillar.

Repairs could also affect the rest of the Columbia River hydroelectric system.

'All these dams coordinate to generate energy on a regional scope,' Stredwick said. 'If Wanapum is impacted, that has impacts on dams upstream as well as below.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2ujzGQrX0

[Keith_McClary]

Earlier this week, an engineer noticed a slight irregular “bowing” above the spillway gates near where cars can drive across the dam.

When divers finally took a look under water they found a 2-inch-wide crack that stretched for 65 feet along the base of one of the dam’s spillway piers.

[dolanbaker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ixty-five-foot CRACK is discovered in Washington dam

[eastbay]

This isn't the only major PNW hydroelectric dam aging not-too-gracefully.

Not reported in the media is the dilapidated condition of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam spillway. The 77-year-old structure is now past it's expected 75 year lifespan and creeping up to the edge of a catastrophic failure.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'T')his isn't the only major PNW hydroelectric dam aging not-too-gracefully.

Not reported in the media is the dilapidated condition of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam spillway. The 77-year-old structure is now past it's expected 75 year lifespan and creeping up to the edge of a catastrophic failure.

[rollin]

One of the big blind spots in developed countries is the lack of viable plans for the future when proceeding with large projects. All plans seem to assume that growth would continue and the country would be richer than ever, thus able to easily replace and improve structures once they reach end of usable life. No plans were considered where the best that could be done was to maintain and stretch the usable life of large structures and general replacement was often not a viable option due to lack of funding.

in other words, nobody thought that creating all the giant highways, buildings, dams, pipelines, waterways and other big structures would economically hogtie future generations just trying replace and maintain these structures.

[eastbay]

Not yet reported in the media and no links that I'm aware of, Loki, but there will be, in time. I will check occasionally. Powerhouse 2, built in the 80s, will remain standing much longer than the crumbling, 3/4-century-old Powerhouse 1 and spillway.

[BobInget]

Im the same age as many PNW -- WPA and Tennessee Valley dam projects. I can tell you with
some certainty my cracks are getting larger every year. Life expectance for males born in 1935 was
59.9--- (2010: 76.5) if that's any indication of how long a dam will hold its water. Like those big dams, I get inspected only once a year. Betcha when my major crack fails, it comes all at once .

Less water/snowpack means more natural gas/coal will be consumed. We won't cut back on consumption.

Several times the Obama Administration proposed infrastructure rebuilding programs. Alas, Obama is no Roosevelt or even a Johnson. Republicans of depression era were just as vicious and stubborn as today but Roosevelt was a rich, 100% white guy and attack from the Right fell flat even in the 'solid south'.

How much more proof do we need? After 78 years these "New Deal' projects paid off.... big time.

[Newfie]

Heard it reported on NPR this afternoon. No analysis, just down stream towns have been alerted.

[rollin]

Bobinget has it right about the projects payback time. Was a good investment at the time. Now the government is so dysfunctional big projects may never be built again let alone repaired.
Of course his personal cracks are of great concern to society, congress should fund their repair. Don't hold your breath Bob.

When I look out over the lake on a cloudy night and see the big glow in the distance, I know that we are sending huge amounts of light into the air and space for no good reason. If we cut the brightness of outside lighting and focused it more, we could cut out a bunch of those coal burning dinosaurs. In fact most outside lighting is not necessary. The invention of the "rabbit detector" (IR motion-sensor controlled outdoor lights) has probably saved as much electricity as the CFL's.

[Newfie]

Highway lights, parking lots, bill boards, office buildings, architectural accents....the list goes on and on.....

It is a measure of our collective concern about cc.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BobInget', ' ')Life expectance for males born in 1935 was
59.9--- (2010: 76.5) if that's any indication of how long a dam will hold its water. Like those big dams, I get inspected only once a year. Betcha when my major crack fails, it comes all at once .

[PrestonSturges]

And many of these dams are silted up with hundreds of millions of tons of sediment that nobody would be willing to dredge out and put......where? And how would one transport a whole river valley of sludge anyway?

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'A')nd many of these dams are silted up with hundreds of millions of tons of sediment that nobody would be willing to dredge out and put......where? And how would one transport a whole river valley of sludge anyway?

[yellowcanoe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Keith_McClary', '
')
I was thinking of doing a thread on the theme: is hydroelectric really a renewable resource, since reservoirs have a finite lifetime due to sedimentation? I already have a catchy title: "Silt Happens - that Dam Thread".

[rollin]

I guess they just knock down the dam, wait a few years and rebuild it. Nature moves the silt, the fish don't like it but silt happens.

[Loki]

Local radio reported the crack was 2" wide, but has shrunk since they dropped the reservoir. Said it was affecting one spillway pier, but they think the rest of the structure would hold if that went out, limiting downstream flows if a catastrophic failure occurred.

While a catastrophic breach and flood is unlikely, it's worth noting the nation's largest nuclear waste site happens to be 25 miles downstream.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Hanford site represents two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume.[8] Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States[9][10] and is the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup.[2] While most of the current activity at the site is related to the cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_nu ... eservation

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', 'W')hile a catastrophic breach and flood is unlikely, it's worth noting the nation's largest nuclear waste site happens to be 25 miles downstream.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Hanford site represents two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume.[8] Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States[9][10] and is the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup.[2] While most of the current activity at the site is related to the cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station....

[Loki]

Apparently the Department of Energy (the agency that manages the Hanford site) has considered a catastrophic dam breach. Basically the nuclear waste would get spread around in the flood waters and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '�')��It’s always tough to say with certainly that a facility is 100 percent prepared for an unknown disaster,” says Geoff Tyree of the Department of Energy. He says the DOE has looked at the possibility of the worst-case scenario where the Grand Coulee Dam partially fails on the Columbia River. He says that flooding could result in the release of radioactive material from portions of Hanford into the water, but he says that same water would dilute the radiation to a very low level off site, and Hanford would have about 40 hours of warning to prepare.

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/20131127/le ... ear-option

[HARM]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'i')n other words, nobody thought that creating all the giant highways, buildings, dams, pipelines, waterways and other big structures would economically hogtie future generations just trying replace and maintain these structures.