Dam Safety Monitoring Program Overview

The Muskrat Falls generating facility has been built to the highest standards of dam safety and construction and the facility is monitored and constructed to meet Canadian Dam Association Dam Guidelines.

We have a comprehensive Dam Safety Program for Muskrat Falls developed by SNC-Lavalin. Our dam safety monitoring is designed to assess the force/pressure of the water from the reservoir on permanent structures of the Muskrat Falls facility including the South Dam, Powerhouse, Spillway, North Dam, North Spur and three Transition Dams.

Our dam safety team uses a combination of manual and automated processes to frequently monitor the generation facilities to confirm that the structures are performing as designed. Our trained staff frequently walks around the structures inspecting, observing and recording their behaviour. They also travel by helicopter to survey the entire reservoir area. Automated monitoring includes observing and analysing a variety of instruments that measure and record such things as water pressure and seepage, structure movement, water level and temperature. The image below lists the instruments installed for the generation structures and the conditions they monitor.

Following the start of impoundment, we will keep stakeholders informed through our weekly updates. In addition to providing information about water levels, we will also issue a dam safety monitoring report with information and observations from our dam monitoring program. For an overview of our Dam Safety Monitoring Program, please click here.