NIAGARA HYDRO DIVERSION PROJECT

CASE STUDY 2006: Had things gone to plan geologically, the 10km long Niagara TBM water diversion tunnel to increase the generating capacity of the Sir Adam Beck hydro complex on the Canadian side of the famous Niagara Falls, should have been completed by Fall 2009. As it was, the 14.4m diameter heading being excavated by still the world’s largest ever main beam gripper TBM was slowed by unfavourable geological conditions. Site visits and reporting through the five years of TBM excavation, records exactly how geological conditions caused such havoc.