Environmental effects of marine blasting in Canadian game rivers
- VMEXPLOTECH Joint Venture Consultants, Oakville, Ontario (Canada)
During the summers of 1992 and 1993, blasting operations were carried out to effect the crossing of two of Canada`s better known game rivers, the Nipigon and Winnipeg, in connection with the completion of a third natural gas utility across northwestern Ontario. The Nipigon River, crossed in 1992, involved a single fast-flowing channel while the Winnipeg River, crossed in 1993, involved three separate channels. The environmental impact of the underwater blasting operations was carefully controlled in accordance with a set of guidelines currently under development by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Because of the stringent overpressure restrictions, the explosive product chosen had to be resistant to sympathetic detonation and the depth of the blast hole collar, nature and consistency of stemming etc. had to be carefully regulated. Blasting was carried out within pre-determined time windows in order to reduce the potential impact of overpressures and ground vibrations on fish spawning and migration. Further reduction of environmental impact by an experimental tactic known as scare-blasting was also studied. The results obtained from monitoring vibration, overpressure and charge lethality appear to confirm the practicability of the regulations contained in the most recent draft of the Canadian marine blasting guidelines.
- OSTI ID:
- 433701
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940144-; TRN: IM9709%%134
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 20. annual Society of Explosives Engineers meeting on explosives and blasting techniques, Austin, TX (United States), 30 Jan - 4 Feb 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the twentieth annual conference on explosives and blasting technique; PB: 593 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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