Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station
The Taum Sauk pumped storage power plant is located in the St. Francois Mountains, part of the Ozarks in southeastern Missouri, about 145 km south of St. Louis, USA. Operator of the plant is Ameren, headquartered in St. Louis.
2005 broke the upper reservoir and a tidal wave spilled out into the valley, since 2010, the pumped storage plant is back in operation.
Misfortune
Course
On 14 December 2005 at 5:13 clock local time ( CST), the upper reservoir of the pumped storage plant broke.
A tidal wave lasting for 12 minutes with six meters flowed into the Black River, then flooded the Johnson's Shut- Ins State Park and flowed into the largely empty lower reservoir. Most of the tidal wave was intercepted by but it was flooded despite the greater capacity of the dam and threatened by downstream -lying cities and towns as Lesterville or Annapolis.
The lying in the forest home of the parking attendant, Jerry Toops, was torn from its foundation and swept away, all five family members survived. There were no other casualties, but a number of casualties.
Reasons for the failure
The working hypothesis is that the dam crest of the basin was flooded when the routine nightly pumping not shuts down when the reservoir was filled. According to the operator, the valves were at the dam other than the monitors anzeigten the dam of Lake of the Ozarks, where the pumped storage plant is monitored and controlled. The stations are connected to a network of towers with microwave transmitters together so that was no staff present on site. Ameren noted that any speculation are preliminary in the media about the reasons of the failure until the end of the official investigation.
On September 27, the water had overflowed in the same place before.
Rebuilding
The regulatory authorities approved Amerens plans to rebuild the reservoir end of 2007. The new dam is completely rolled concrete (RCC ), as opposed to the original rockfill material. In addition to the means for measuring the degree of filling, there is a spillway, in order to allow an overflow, and a video monitor to observe the water level. The cost of 450 million U.S. dollars for the reconstruction were worn mostly by the insurance.
On 27 February 2010, the first time water was pumped into the newly built dam. Engineers observed the behavior of the new structure as the water rose again and again plummeted. Pass the final approval of the FERC ( Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ) to return to normal operation was obtained on April 1, 2010. On April 15, the facility met the criteria of " Missouri Public Service Commission " for the commissioning and April 21, 2010 the first time was re- generated electricity. The new dam was awarded by the " United States Society on Dams " awarded " Award of Excellence in the Constructed Project".
Gallery
Power station
Aerial view of the reservoir
Path of the tidal wave
Breach
Empty reservoir
Dam of the lower reservoir
List of dam disasters
- List of dam disasters
Swell
- Southeast Missourian (Cape Giradeau, MO): Taum Sauk reservoir fails
- Daily Journal ( Park Hills, Missouri): Taum Sauk Dam Fails
- National Weather Service St. Louis Office: Taum Sauk Dam Failure