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The Taum Sauk pumped-storage plant’s upper reservoir was rebuilt with roller-compacted concrete (RCC) after its northwest rim dike failed on December 14, 2005. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) records attribute the failure to overtopping after the filling pumps failed to shut off, followed by erosion and breach of the rockfill dam. A 2010 Building Design + Construction project report describes the reconstruction: about 2.7 million cubic yards of RCC formed the core, while roughly 300,000 cubic yards of conventional concrete supplied water-retaining linings and foundation work. The project used nine large monoliths, four on-site batch plants and belt-conveyor placement for a harsh, zero-slump mix.
What failed at Taum Sauk in 2005
Taum Sauk is a pumped-storage hydroelectric facility in Missouri. Its upper reservoir stores water that can be released through the generating units and then pumped back uphill when electricity demand is lower. The December 14, 2005 failure involved the upper reservoir’s perimeter rim dike, not a failure of the later RCC rebuilding method.
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Overtopping caused the breach
FERC’s 2007 environmental assessment states that pumps filling the upper reservoir did not shut off as intended. Water overtopped the rim, eroded the rockfill embankment and opened a breach at the northwest corner. The sequence matters: RCC was selected for the subsequent reconstruction; it was not the material responsible for the original failure.
The release was rapid and large
Different FERC records describe different measurements of the event. They should not be treated as interchangeable.
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| Measure | Reported value | What it describes | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released storage | Approximately 4,300 acre-feet | Estimated volume discharged from the upper reservoir | FERC incident record, 2007 |
| Peak breach discharge | About 273,000 cubic feet per second | Maximum flow through the breach; FERC says it occurred within 10 minutes of initial breach | FERC investigation report, 2006 |
| Reservoir evacuation | Complete within 25 minutes | Time for the upper reservoir to empty | FERC investigation report, 2006 |
Acre-feet measure stored volume, whereas cubic feet per second measures flow rate. Keeping those definitions attached to the numbers prevents the incident from being misread as either a 4,300-acre-foot flow or a 273,000-cubic-foot-per-second storage volume.
Why the reconstruction used roller-compacted concrete
AmerenUE (the owner/developer name used in the 2010 construction account) undertook the rebuild after working through FERC compliance requirements with Paul Rizzo Associates. Craig Giesmann, then AmerenUE’s managing supervisor of hydro engineering, said the team determined that “the safest and most economical method of rebuilding the Upper Reservoir would be to use an RCC design.” That is a statement by a project participant quoted in the trade article, not an independent FERC finding that RCC is universally the safest dam material.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsRCC combines cementitious concrete with a very low-water, stiff consistency and is normally placed in high-volume lifts. For this project, the practical attraction was the ability to produce and place a massive quantity of structural material quickly while reserving conventional concrete for surfaces and locations requiring different finishing or filling characteristics. The article describes the RCC as a harsh, zero-slump mix, meaning it did not behave like fluid ready-mix concrete and could not simply be moved through ordinary concrete-pumping arrangements.
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Material roles in the rebuilt reservoir
| Material | Reported quantity | Primary role | Placement approach reported in 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roller-compacted concrete | About 2.7 million cubic yards | Main structural core of the rebuilt reservoir dam | Moved with telescopic belt conveyors because of the harsh, zero-slump consistency |
| Conventional concrete | About 300,000 cubic yards | Outer linings that provided a water barrier and concrete used to fill holes in the natural-rock foundation | Handled by the conveyors and by a truck-mounted boom pump |
The 2.7-million- and 300,000-cubic-yard figures come from the August 11, 2010 Building Design + Construction report. They describe the quantities planned or reported during construction and should not be presented as an independently verified as-built quantity survey.
How crews placed the zero-slump RCC
Conveying instead of pumping the RCC
The project team used Putzmeister Telebelt telescopic belt conveyors to move the RCC from the batch plants to the placement areas. Lee Schermerhorn, an ASI vice president working with Ozark Constructors, said, “The TB 600 is designed to convey the harsh, zero-slump RCC mix.” Belt conveying avoids forcing such a stiff mixture through a long pipeline, where pressure, segregation or blockage could interrupt the continuous production-and-placement sequence.
The equipment list in the 2010 account was project-specific: one TB 600, one TB 130 and a 47Z-meter truck-mounted boom pump. The article says the conveyors handled both RCC and conventional concrete; the boom pump handled conventional concrete. Those machines illustrate how the rebuild separated the logistics of the core mix from the more fluid concrete used for linings and foundation work. They are not a general purchasing recommendation for ordinary construction projects.
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Why consistency controlled the logistics
A zero-slump mixture has little free water and does not flow under its own weight. Plant output, truck turnaround, conveyor reach and placement timing therefore had to be coordinated so that material arrived in a steady stream. Any interruption could leave a partially placed lift that required additional inspection and preparation before work resumed. The article emphasizes conveyance capacity and plant production; it does not provide a complete lift-thickness, rolling-pass or curing specification, so those details should not be inferred from the equipment list.
Scale of the rebuilt upper reservoir
Nine monoliths formed the construction layout
The 2010 report divides the rebuilt structure into nine construction sections called monoliths. Ozark project engineer David Hall described their intended scale this way: “Each monolith is 600 feet long and will reach 100 feet above the reservoir floor.” At nine sections, that arrangement provided a repeatable way to organize placement, joints, inspection and access across the reservoir perimeter. The quoted dimensions describe the project’s construction geometry as reported at the time; they are not a claim that every section had identical foundation conditions or final elevations.
Batch plants supplied an industrial-scale pour
Four batch plants operated on site. The article reports combined production of 10,000 to 12,000 cubic yards per day during the rebuilding work. Its plant-rate figures were 250, 450 and 650 cubic yards per hour for the RCC batch operations, plus 300 cubic yards per hour for the conventional-concrete plant. These are contemporaneous operating rates reported in 2010, not guaranteed capacities for later work or for another site.
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| Reported item | Value | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Upper-reservoir volume | 189,486,001 cubic feet | Volume stated by the 2010 trade article |
| Total concrete for rebuild | More than 3 million cubic yards | Project quantity reported by the 2010 article |
| RCC portion | 2.7 million cubic yards | Reported core quantity |
| Conventional concrete | About 300,000 cubic yards | Reported lining and foundation quantity |
| On-site batch plants | Four | Configuration described during construction |
| Combined daily production | 10,000–12,000 cubic yards per day | Reported construction-period output |
| RCC plant rates | 250, 450 and 650 cubic yards per hour | Rates assigned to the RCC plants in the 2010 account |
| Conventional-concrete plant rate | 300 cubic yards per hour | Rate reported for the conventional-concrete plant |
Who delivered the reconstruction
The project account identifies AmerenUE as owner and developer, Paul Rizzo Associates as engineer of record and project manager, and Ozark Constructors as general contractor. Ozark was described as a joint venture of Fred Weber and ASI Constructors. Putzmeister equipment supplied the telescopic conveyors and boom pump used in the placement system. These roles explain how design compliance, production and field placement were divided; they do not by themselves establish that any one company supplied every material or performed every specialty task.
Timeline: what the 2010 report does and does not establish
The article says AmerenUE began rebuilding the upper reservoir in late winter 2007. It also describes the project while construction was under way, including the number of monoliths, batch plants and reported production rates. Any completion date or progress count in that article is historical. It should not be reused as the plant’s present schedule or current construction status.
FERC’s later project-directory context is the appropriate starting point for present classification: it lists Taum Sauk as an approved 442.5-megawatt pumped-storage project and identifies the company as Ameren Missouri. That directory entry does not replace a current operating record, inspection report or as-built engineering record. For present ownership, operating condition or regulatory status beyond the directory entry, consult the latest FERC and owner records.
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How to read the evidence for this case study
| Question | Best-supported source type | What can safely be concluded |
|---|---|---|
| What caused the 2005 breach? | FERC investigation and environmental records | Overtopping after filling pumps failed to shut off led to erosion and breach of the rockfill rim dike. |
| How fast and how large was the release? | FERC incident and investigation records | Approximately 4,300 acre-feet were released; peak discharge was about 273,000 cubic feet per second; the reservoir emptied within 25 minutes. |
| Why was RCC selected? | Statements in the 2010 project article | AmerenUE, working with FERC compliance requirements and Paul Rizzo Associates, selected RCC as the stated safest and most economical rebuild approach. |
| How much concrete and what equipment were used? | 2010 Building Design + Construction report | The article reports the quantities, plant rates, monolith dimensions and Putzmeister placement equipment used during construction. |
| What is the project’s current directory status? | FERC project directory | Taum Sauk is listed as an approved 442.5-megawatt pumped-storage project under Ameren Missouri. |
This separation prevents a common mistake in project summaries: treating a trade article’s construction-period numbers as if they were a regulator’s final certification, or treating the original failure mechanism as evidence against RCC itself.
What the Taum Sauk rebuild demonstrates
- Design follows failure analysis. The breach investigation established an overtopping-and-erosion sequence; the rebuild then had to satisfy FERC requirements with a new structural approach.
- Material choice and surface function can be separated. RCC supplied the reported core volume, while conventional concrete created outer water-barrier linings and filled irregularities in the natural-rock foundation.
- Consistency determines delivery equipment. The harsh, zero-slump mix led the team to use telescopic belt conveyors, while conventional concrete could also be placed with a boom pump.
- Production scale changes the entire site plan. Four batch plants and a reported 10,000–12,000 cubic yards per day required coordinated aggregate, cement, water, haul roads, conveyor access and quality-control operations.
- Historical numbers need dates attached. The 2010 article’s quantities, rates and projected progress describe that construction period; they are not current performance claims.
- Official and project-participant evidence serve different purposes. FERC records are the foundation for the failure mechanism and incident measurements, while the trade report supplies practical details about batching, monolith organization and placement equipment.
For this reason, the Taum Sauk case is most useful as a documented example of matching a high-volume RCC construction system to a dam-reconstruction problem—not as a universal specification for every reservoir or a consumer equipment comparison.
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