John Hart Generating Station

Replacement Project

May 2016

Community Construction Update

Report #35

Prepared by: Stephen Watson, BC Hydro

(O) 250-755-4795 or (C) 250-616-9888

Twitter: @Puntledge Email: steve.watson@bchydro.com

• Intake maintenance gate excavation (upstream of existing

dam) progressing well and is expected to be complete in

mid-June. The power intake shaft (downstream of dam) will

also be complete in mid-June;

• Drilling on the surge shaft (which replaces the function of the

existing surge towers but is largely underground) began end

of May and will continue for roughly five months;

• The power tunnel is progressing toward the dam. It is

currently excavated about 267 metres of the total 1,500

metre length; and

• Tailrace outlet is fully excavated, with a rock plug in place as

a barrier between the tunnel outlet and the Campbell River.

Work will commence shortly on the concrete works.

Project Status

A person, for

size context.

• May-February 2017: Concrete work for generator units in powerhouse;

• June: Power tunnel reaches the surge shaft location;

• July: Intake shaft (downstream) excavation complete;

• July/August: Main access tunnel meets Adit D, near the powerhouse cavern;

• September: Installation of gates, pumps and various items at tailrace water discharge outlet; and

• November: Excavate under the existing John Hart dam.

Project Schedule

Construction Pictures – John Hart Dam Area

4

May 25

Construction Pictures – Cofferdam Area

5

Rock removal within the cofferdam work area upstream of the John

Hart dam. Bottom left, drilling into the rock so, on the top left, crews

can place the explosives. The rock blasted is then removed by

excavator into a bucket to place the rock on top of the John Hart

dam by the road, shown above, for removal off the site.

Construction Pictures – Downstream of John

Hart Dam

6

This shows the initial work to excavate the upper part of the vertical power tunnel shaft.

The shaft will join up with the 1.5 km horizontally-oriented underground power tunnel

that is being excavated towards the water intake from the powerhouse area.

Construction Pictures – Downstream Work

Area Below John Hart Dam Area

7

The 6.5 metre diameter power tunnel shaft. About 26 metres have been excavated to

date. Crews and equipment for drilling and blasting, as well as for rock removal, are

moved down and up by crane. On right, a crew member is being lifted down into the shaft.

8

3

2

1

4

1 – John Hart reservoir and intake dam;

2 – John Hart interpretive centre and Elk

Falls parking lot;

3 – Surge tank excavation area; and

4 – Elk Falls suspension bridge.

Construction Pictures – Surge Tank Area

9

The new drill is now in place to begin

the surge shaft rock excavation to

connect to the power tunnel.

Construction Pictures – Tailrace

11

Service tunnel portal.

Main access tunnel portal.

Construction Pictures – Power Tunnel

12

The top view is looking upstream or to the west, and the

bottom view is looking downstream. The portables are place

for crews to eat within a clean environment.

Construction Pictures – Powerhouse Cavern

13

At left is the view looking east with the service tunnel in the upper part of the picture, and on the right is

the view looking back beside the excavator.

Construction Pictures – Powerhouse Cavern

14

The powerhouse cavern view towards

the end of May, and above, one of the

future water outlets from the

powerhouse to the surge chamber

and tailrace tunnel.

Construction Pictures – Main Access Tunnel

15

A big milestone this month was the main access

tunnel officially moving past the loose rock

feature. Full rock blasting has resumed. The

picture at bottom right shows the solid rock face

past the feature.

Construction Pictures – Tailrace

16

Above, a computer-generated

image of what the tailrace water

discharge area may look like.

Inserting explosives.

John Hart

Project

Community Site

Event – July 17

17

Shaw TV’s Go! did a John Hart project

construction update. Video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDa

pIu71otg

Environment Update

18

• Hatfield Consultants’ environmental management team on the project have launched a new

sticker to compliment the already-popular program that encourages saving animals and

frogs/reptiles, and protecting water quality. This sticker (shown below) celebrates spill

response.

• Invasive species (broom and thistle) were cut and removed from all worksites to help prevent

the spread as construction progresses.

• The hot dry weather is already influencing work at the John Hart project. Multiple days of high

fire danger warning requires additional monitoring by project team members and restricts

when certain kinds of work can be done. The water truck is also beginning to fill from the

water treatment plant – reusing water that would have been released to the river to spray

down dry dusty roads.

People Profile – Robin Stanley

Background:

Robin had a wide range of employment experiences before getting

involved as office manager/bookkeeper (and onsite labourer) for her

husband’s general contracting/construction business. She moved to

Kitimat in early 2013 to take a position as office services supervisor

and administrator to the Construction and Site Managers for the

Kitimat Modernization Project for two years before recently returning to

Campbell River when the John Hart project was announced.

Home:

Born and raised in Nanaimo, Robin moved to Campbell River in the early 1980s. While she spent two years in Kitimat for work, she’s happy to be back working in the place they’ve always considered home.

Hobbies:

A guitar playing music lover, Robin also enjoys spending time with family and friends, photography, gaming, cooking, crafting and making homemade soaps and similar products.

Project Responsibility:

As operations administrator for Frontier-Kemper, Robin is responsible for stocking and supplying safety equipment, managing information and records, collecting and submitting StepBack cards and coordinating the tag system for underground work along with many other tasks.

“To be a part of a project that’s so significant to the community and to the water supply – I love it. And I just love to be working at home again.”

About Robin

People Profile – Robin and NIEFS

Background:

Since 2011, BC Hydro has been working and creating business collaboration in the community so the project is successful during the five year construction period. This has included working with North Island Employment Foundations Society (NIEFS), and with the support of InPower BC, it ultimately led to a role for Robin on the project work site.

• Through NIEFS Work BC Employment Service Centre, eligible job seekers can qualify for the wage subsidy program which assists employers offset the cost of on the job training through a wage subsidy and job seekers by providing essential on the job training and experience;

• Through NIEFS partnership with BC Hydro and knowledge of work and contractors on the John Hart project, Frontier-Kemper (FK) became familiar with local services and used the NIEFS job board to post a position for an Operations Administrator;

• This job posting, along with NIEFS Wage Subsidy Coordinator helped to connect FK and Robin Stanley (see this month’s people profile). It was determined that Robin, and the program, would be a great fit for FK;

• Robin has since completed her 14 week wage subsidy placement and was offered continued employment in that position with FK;

• As a WorkBC Employment Service Centre NIEFS delivers the Employment Program of BC which is funded by the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia.

“NIEFS and Robin are happy to share this success as it speaks to the importance of the John Hart project and the opportunities for local job seekers to gain valuable on the job experience over the life of the project along with the many benefits the wage subsidy program provides employers such as FK,” said Shannon Baikie, Regional Manager, NIEFS.

Michael Stephen, Wage Subsidy Program

Coordinator, with Shannon Baikie.

Construction – Point Of Interest

Each month, BC Hydro and InPower BC will provide a construction

fact, occurrence, or situation.

Air temperature and humidity within the powerhouse cavern.

• In our four weather seasons we have rain and snow, and wide-ranging hot and cold

conditions that require a lot of planning and contingencies. For this project, and

specifically the powerhouse cavern, the underground conditions are generally providing

for better year-round conditions for things like concrete curing;

• An underground cave may be around 10 degrees. With this project, for safety, ventilation

ducting is required which brings in air conditions from above ground to below ground.

There can be fluctuations from winter to summer, though the good news is the cool

underground rock and humidity conditions help to bring the overall temperatures within

the cavern to a more constant level. There are seasonal fluctuations from the air brought

in, but not nearly as pronounced as above ground. And of course there’s no risk of rain or

snow in the cavern; and

• The more constant year-round temperature and humidity conditions in the cavern will

benefit the next stage of the project with the concrete placement and curing.