Priest Rapids Dam

Priest Rapids Dam (Priest Rapids Lake)
The flood relief of the dam in June 1973
Location: Grant County / Yakima , Washington (USA) Tributaries: Columbia River Drain: Columbia River
Washington , United States
Coordinates	46 ° 38 '35 "  N , 119 ° 54' 34"  W Coordinates: 46 ° 38 '35 "  N , 119 ° 54' 34"  W.
Data on the structure
Construction time:	July 1956 - 1959 (first electricity generation) / 1961
Height of the barrier structure :	178 ft (54 m)
Crown length:	10,103 ft (3,079 m)
Data on the reservoir
Total storage space :	292 500 000  m³

The Priest Rapids Dam is a concrete dam designed as a gravity dam with a hydroelectric power station on the Columbia River between the Yakima Research Station and the Hanford Site . It connects Yakima County and Grant County in the US state of Washington . The dam is located 24 mi (39 km) south of the small town of Vantage and 47 mi (76 km) northwest of the city of Richland . It is located on kilometer 397.1 mi (639.1 km) of the Columbia River. The dam belongs to the Grant County Public Utility District . The Priest Rapids , after which the dam was named, are now flooded by the reservoir (Priest Rapids Lake).

The Priest Rapids Dam is part of the system of reservoirs in the Columbia River Basin.

The power plant at Priest Rapids Dam has a capacity of 955.6 MW, which is generated by 10 turbines.

history

Columbia River Basin

After the flooding in Vanport (Oregon) - in 1949 on the lower Columbia River around Vancouver (Washington) and Portland (Oregon) - the federal government initiated the Priest Rapids Project, which was implemented under the Flood Control Act of 1950 (Public Law 81-516; 17. May 1950). The United States Army Corps of Engineers did not give the project a top priority, so the Grant PUD (the public services of Grant County) wanted to take over the project in 1952. With the enactment of Public Law 83-544 in 1955, Congress gave the PUD the rights to execute. Short-term municipal bonds were issued for the start of construction in July 1956; the power plant went online in 1959 and the dam was completed in 1961. The reservoir is called Priest Rapids Lake and extends 18 mi (29 km) upstream to the drain of the Wanapum Dam . Below the Priest Rapids Dam is the Hanford Reach , the only free-flowing and non-tidal section of the Columbia River in the United States.

The first operator license expired in 2005. Thereafter, Grant County PUD operated the dam on the basis of annual licenses, while negotiations for another operator license continued. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted on April 17, 2008 a license extension of 44 years for both the Priest Rapid Dam and the upstream Wanapum Dam. The license extension included the following conditions:

• The efficiency of energy generation should be modernized.
• The water quality can be observed.
• Habitats for plants and animals need to be improved.
• Around 700 Wanapum archaeological sites in the area are to be preserved.
• The recreational opportunities are to be improved with new campsites, picnic areas and hiking trails.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Grant County PUD ( Memento of the original from November 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Priest Rapids Dam at Grant County PUD ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Pratt, Christine. - Feds approve new license for Grant PUD dams  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) - Wenatchee World - April 18, 2008
4. ↑ New license OK'd for Priest Rapids, Wanapum dams on Columbia  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) - Associated Press - (c / o Tri-City Herald ) - April 19, 2008
5. ↑ FERC Live Video & Audio Webcasts and Archives ( Memento of the original dated May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - FERC - April 17, 2008 - FERC Open Meeting - Video with Audio Webcast Archive: Windows Media or RealPlayer; Downloadable MP3 format audio files  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) 

Web links

• Priest River Dam on the website of Grant County PUD (English)