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Dam Safety at BC Hydro Booklet

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Dam Safety at BC Hydro Booklet KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE DAM SAFETY AT BC HYDRO DECEMBER 2014 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE ABOUT BC HYDRO BC Hydro was established over 50 years ago to generate and deliver clean, reliable and competitively priced electricity to homes and businesses throughout British Columbia. The electricity generated by our dams and delivered by our transmission and distribution infrastructure has powered B.C.’s economy and quality of life for generations. With prudent reinvestment and careful planning, BC Hydro is positioned to safely deliver clean, reliable power for the long-term benefit of the growing province. DELIVERING ELECTRICITY ONE OF THE LARGEST SAFELY AND RELIABLY AT COMPETITIVE ELECTRIC UTILITIES IN RATES TO APPROXIMATELY SERVING 95% 1.9 MILLION CANADA OF B.C.’S POPULATION CUSTOMERS Nearly 90% 910,000 Distribution Poles of customer accounts are 300 Substations residential with the remainder either commercial or industrial 133,000 transmission Over95% 18,000 km support structures of the electricity generated of transmission lines by BC Hydro comes from approximately hydroelectric facilities located throughout the Peace, Columbia and Coastal regions of B.C. 12,000 MW of installed generating capacity The existing hydroelectric system, with inflows managed through the use of reservoir storage, is capable of providing between 43,000 and 56,000 GWh per year of energy with an average 48,000 GWh per year 31 Hydroelectric facilities 41 Dam sites 3 Thermal generating plants 89 Generating units The transmission network connects with transmission systems in Alberta and BC Hydro’s own generation is supplemented by Washington State additional electricity purchased from independent power producers in the province to meet approximately 25% of the domestic supply 2 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE INTRODUCTION The purpose of this document is to describe BC Hydro’s we also submit annual reports to the Province of British long-standing dam safety program, provide a summary of a Columbia and commission independent reviews of the recent seismic hazard assessment of our dams, and outline dams every seven to 10 years. some of the actions we are taking to ensure all of our dams A 2013 independent external audit by two international and facilities remain safe, including new initiatives based on experts in dam safety found that BC Hydro has a strong the findings of the seismic assessment. dam safety program and a robust risk assessment process BC Hydro operates some of the largest dams in the world. consistent with international best practices. Today, we maintain and operate 79 dams at 41 locations Over the next 10 years, BC Hydro will be investing across the province and have been assessing seismic approximately $1.9 billion in dam safety and seismic hazards at these facilities for decades. upgrades to its facilities. BC Hydro’s top priority is the safety of the public and our employees, including the safe operation and maintenance of our dams and generating stations, transmission and distribution lines, and other facilities. Our dam safety program—which is based on provincial regulations, guidelines published by the Canadian Dam Association and international best practices—has been modelled by other jurisdictions in North America and around the world. We use thousands of instruments and devices to collect and report automatically on the performance of our dams, most of which are visually checked weekly and receive more extensive inspections twice a year. Some small dams are inspected less frequently. Our dam safety management system goes through extensive external and internal reviews every five years and Jordan River John Hart Strathcona 3 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE BC HYDRO’S DAM SAFETY PROGRAM The objective of BC Hydro’s dam safety program is to manage Some of the many instruments and tools we use to monitor the safety of all our structures that retain the reservoirs and our dams include: control the passage of water that flows through, around, and • Approximately 3,000 piezometers to measure water beyond our dams. levels in slopes, dams and foundations BC Hydro’s dam safety department currently has over 30 • Almost 2,000 weirs, flumes and drains to measure professional and technical staff that are responsible for the seepage through and around a dam following aspects of dam safety: • About 5,000 measurement points using inclinometers, • Surveillance extensometers and survey monuments to measure • Investigations potential movement of the dams and slopes • Risk analysis and prioritization • Over 100 devices to monitor reservoir elevation • Project initiation and oversight • Almost 200 devices such as rain gauges, thermometers, • Regulatory compliance and reporting anemometer to measure weather conditions For decades, BC Hydro has been evaluating the safety of our dams • About 3,000 other instruments to measure and upgrading our facilities where deficiencies are identified. groundwater temperature, water turbidity and We do this by reviewing the normal wear and tear on our dams, ground motion due to earthquakes identifying and measuring any unanticipated challenges, and Many of these instruments are connected to an Automated making the necessary improvements and repairs as soon as Data Acquisition System that monitors and provides practicable. This approach involves constant monitoring and notification if measurements are outside the normal range. estimation of risks, incorporating changes to international and Canadian current practice, along with ongoing reviews and remedial actions that are prioritized. Relief well upgrade at Bridge River Kootenay Canal inspection 4 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE MONITOR, ASSESS, ACT … REPEAT The instruments and tools we use to monitor our dams are investigate the severity of the problem and possibly just one source of information in the assessment of the implement interim measures. If there are still concerns, we overall condition and safety of our dams. take action. Other inputs include how and when a dam was built, its Potential actions include reducing the hazard or consequence present condition, its expected performance during floods and of a potential safety issue, investing in capital improvements, earthquakes, and how the dam is currently performing (as as well as enhancing plans for emergency preparedness. described in the chart below). System audits, internal All of these actions are considered in our seismic assessments and external reviews by dam experts also get preparedness planning to ensure that our dams and water factored into this assessment. passages are kept safe. This document will now focus on If those assessments show that a dam is operating earthquakes in B.C., how earthquakes could impact our dams, satisfactorily, we keep monitoring on a regular basis. If we and introduce a recent six-year seismic hazard study, called identify a potential problem, we continue to monitor while we the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA). FLOW OF INFORMATION INPUTS Earthquake studies (e.g. PSHA project) ACTIONS • Capital improvements Flood studies • Reduce the hazard • Reduce consequences Operations • Emergency preparedness • Interim risk management Present performance Design issues Yes DAM SAFETY ASSESSMENTS ARE THERE ARE THERE INVESTIGATE CONCERNS CONCERNS PERIODIC REVIEWS Uncertain No No • Internal or Yes (semi-annual) • External independant technical reviews CONTINUAL MONITORING • System audits Thousands of instruments monitoring facilities; visual inspections 5 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE UNDERSTANDING EARTHQUAKES Canada experiences approximately 4,000 earthquakes a This subduction zone can produce smaller intra-slab year. More than half of these occur in British Columbia and earthquakes. B.C. can also experience shallow active crustal surrounding areas. earthquakes and stable continental earthquakes, like those in eastern Canada. Volcanic earthquakes can also occur near the B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island typically Cascade Mountain range. experience about 400 earthquakes a year. Using the expertise of seismologists, physicists, geologists British Columbia is in a geological setting where the structure and engineers, BC Hydro worked to identify where major of the earth’s crust is complex. The province experiences five seismic activity could occur, develop prediction models and kinds of seismic events, two of which come from the Cascadia determine resulting seismic ground motions at BC Hydro Subduction Zone (see image). This zone is the potential source dam sites. of a “mega-thrust” earthquake (magnitude 9), like the Tohoku quake that triggered a catastrophic tidal wave along the These models have helped us assess and rank seismic northeastern coast of Japan in 2011. upgrades at our facilities, and will also help BC Hydro, emergency responders and the public to be better prepared The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a 1,000-kilometre offshore for a major earthquake. fault along the Pacific Coast from northern Vancouver Island to Northern California. This is where the relatively thin Juan de Fuca oceanic plate is pushed underneath the western plate of North America. CASCADIA SUBDUCTION ZONE 1949 Q u e e n C h 1970 a 1929 rlo tte 1946: M7.3 Fa Mt. Meager ult CASCADE VOLCANIC CHAIN Mt. Garibaldi 1990 1918 1976 1909 1864 Mt. Baker PLATE 1920 MOTION ~900 AD 1996 PLATE 1872 MOTION 1965 LEGEND 1949 MAGNITUDE 56 CONTINENTAL OCEAN CRUST MAGNITUDE 67 CRUST SUB MAGNITUDE 78 DUC TION PARTIAL ZO NE MELTING PARTIAL MAGNITUDE 89 MELTING Source of the great MANTLE earthquake of 1700 AD 6 KEEPING OUR SYSTEM SAFE ON THE FAULT LINE
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