www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org
NEXT Meeting (The Read
House)_____________________________________________
OUR PREVIOUS
MEETING________________________________________________
Topic: “How TVA Operates the
Mr. Gary Mauldin from the Tennessee
Valley Authority’s River System Operations and Environment Group told us he
feels lucky to be helping run a river system that was so elegantly
designed. The lower, main river
dams are used to maintain at least an 11-foot navigation channel for barge
traffic on the river. The barges
require at least 9-foot depths. The
higher, tributary dams hold rain water and runoff in the mountains until it can
be used for navigation or power production. The high dams are great for controlling
floods.
The TVA Act of 1933 outlines the main
purposes for which TVA manages the river system:
Even though the dams were designed to
work together as a system, the designers could not predict all the future uses
of this water. They never imagined
that property values around the reservoirs would increase to as high as a half
million dollars per half acre. TVA has recently completed a new Reservoir
Operations Study where the public was involved in helping to develop a river
operation plan to optimize all uses of the water - navigation, flood control,
recreation, economic development, and water supply. One of the results of this study is that
TVA is delaying its unrestricted drawdown of the reservoir system from August 1
until after Labor Day.
The designers of the river system
didn’t foresee the stratified cold water staying at the bottom of the reservoirs
so long that it would become depleted of oxygen and dangerous for fish. TVA has installed auto-venting turbines
to add oxygen to the water as the water is used to generate electricity and also
uses various other kinds of aeration systems to improve dissolved oxygen
levels. The river below the Douglas
Dam was basically dead until TVA started adding oxygen back into the stratified
cold water as it is released. Now
some endangered species have been successfully re-introduced there.
Even the cold water stored in the
bottom of the reservoirs has a benefit to the power system. TVA keeps an inventory of the cold water
at Norris Dam that can be released throughout the summer to keep nuclear and
coal units cool enough to operate at maximum capacity, even on hot summer
days.
How did the hurricanes impact the river
system? It will take about a month
of 24-hour releases to return to normal reservoir levels after the hurricanes
passed through the Valley. An
estimated $10 million in property damage was averted by TVA’s management of the
reservoir system during this year’s hurricane
season.
Thanks to Judy Driggans for the meeting
summary.
FUTURE MONDAY
MEETINGS_____________________________________________
October 11:
No Meeting - Columbus Day
October 18: “Trials and Tribulations of Placing 1.8
MW Wind Turbines on Mountaintops” - Carol Glover, Power Resources &
Operations Planning, TVA
October 25: “Digital Data
Authentication Using the ‘auto-notary™’ Product” - Tom Wood, Accurate Automation
Corporation
November 1:
“Leadership for Geeks” -
Stephen Smith,
November 8: “Are we there yet? Current status of Fuel
Cell Technology” - Dale Bradshaw
November 15:
“Nuclear Non-Proliferation
and Security: Keeping Us Safe at Home and Abroad” - Michael Whitaker,
ORNL's Nuclear Science and Technology Division
November 22:
“Nanotechnology” - Doug
Lowndes, ORNL
TBD: Fusion Technology -
ORNL
TBD: Nanotechnology - Jayesh Doshi, E-Spin
WHERE WE MEET
_______________________________________________________
We meet at The Read House, and lunch is $11. Parking is free at the Days Inn across
QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS?
______________________________________________
If you have any questions or
suggestions about program items please call Tiffany Gibby at
423-751-3168 or by email at tjgibby@tva.gov. You can find references to other
Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.