Case history summary: Taum sauk storage dam failure, lessons learned and the rebuild

A 2.84 million cubic yard RCC Dam in compliance with FERC Regulations and Missouri environmental permitting regulations was constructed in order to replace the failed rockfill dike constructed in 1963 to form the Upper Reservoir at the Taum Sauk pump storage project. This project, based in Reynolds County, Missouri, was the largest RCC project constructed in the USA. Several design issues arose during the design process. This paper presented an overview of the RCC dam project. Numerous lessons were learned from the Taum Sauk storage dam failure and from the rebuild. The failure investigations and its consequence on the safety program were described in detail. Detailed information was provided about the Taum Sauk Upper reservoir rebuild. The overall design basis was to rebuild the Upper Reservoir with the same electric generating capacity as the original Upper Reservoir. A refill program was also developed to monitor the performance of the dam during the initial refill.