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Fourth Turbine Shaft Rolls in at Wanapum Dam
February 12, 2008

EPHRATA, WA – Nearly 80 tons of cylindrical steel rolling down highway 243 on a truck with 54 wheels is not what the average commuter expects to see.  The 22-foot long shaft for the fourth turbine replacement arrived at Wanapum Dam on Tuesday, February 5. 

The turbine replacement project is the result of years of research and testing designed to increase power output and learn how dam operators can achieve higher survival rates for juvenile fish passing through turbines.  The new shaft will become part of turbine unit nine, which crews anticipate completion in July 2008.

The shaft was forged at the Kvaerner IMGB factory in Bucharest, Romania, one of five manufacturing facilities in the world that can produce large, forged metal parts the size and length required to produce turbine shafts.  Forging is a heat intensive process that requires large billets of steel be heated to temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The billets come out of the oven white-hot.  They are then placed into a 15,000-ton forge, which presses and sculpts the hot steel billet.  Video of the shaft forging process can be viewed at gcpud.org.

Grant PUD inspectors monitor the forging process during the nine-month manufacturing process to insure precision temperatures and measurements are adhered to, guaranteeing that the shaft meets all required specifications. Once the shaft was completed and tested, it was trucked to the nearby Black Sea port of Constanta, where it was shipped across the Atlantic to Houston, Texas and placed on board a truck bound for Wanapum Dam.

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Grant County Public Utility District is a Washington state municipal corporation that began electric service in 1942.  Owned by the people it serves, Grant PUD generates and sells electricity to Grant County residents and millions of customers throughout Central Washington and the Pacific Northwest.  The Priest Rapids Project, comprised of Priest Rapids and Wanapum Dams, produces nearly 2,000 megawatts of clean, renewable and reliable electricity – enough to supply a city the size of Seattle.  A leader in science based technology; Grant PUD is committed to finding effective measures for the protection, mitigation and enhancement of salmon, steelhead and other natural and cultural resources.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kathy Kiefer
(509) 754-6625 / kkiefer@gcpud.org