FERC's position: Embankment protection for increasing spillway capacity

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Hydro Review; (United States)

OSTI ID:5536832

Mahoney, D J ^[1]

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1. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has maintained for some time that finding the means to protect an embankment from failure due to overtopping would represent an important advance in the dam safety and an economic point of view. As a result, FERC's Division of Dam Safety and Inspections has maintained a keen interest in the recent advances and ongoing research in embankment protection. The foremost mission of FERC's dam safety program is to provide for the general public's safety downstream of dams at hydroelectric projects under FERC jurisdiction. To accomplish this mission, some older dams have had to be modified to meet present-day engineering criteria, particularly with respect to stability and spillway capacity. While dam modifications to ensure the public safety are mandatory, it has always been FERC's policy to allow licensees to pursue the most cost-effective means of modification. However, the traditional approach to meeting FERC's requirement has been to expand or construct structural concrete spillways. Increasing the spillway capacity of a project is often a very expensive repair. On the other hand, using innovative methods of protecting embankments against overtopping is much less expensive and thus can represent tremendous savings for project licensees. Of the 2,200 dams under FERC's jurisdiction, approximately 700 are major embankment structures. Clearly, a cost-effective means to upgrade these dams, where necessary, would have an important effect on the dam safety community.

• OSTI ID: 5536832
• Journal Information: Hydro Review; (United States), Journal Name: Hydro Review; (United States) Vol. 10:2; ISSN HYREE8; ISSN 0884-0385
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
130300 -- Hydro Energy-- Plant Design & Operation
130400* -- Hydro Energy-- Legislation & Regulations
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENTS
DAMS
DISASTERS
EMBANKMENTS
EROSION
FLOODS
FLUID FLOW
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
REGULATIONS
SAFETY
US DOE
US FERC
US ORGANIZATIONS