Significant Project Features:
- Soil Bentonite Slurry Wall installed and backfilled using excavators
- 635 Linear Feet and a Total 18,595 Square Feet Excavated up to 30-feet deep
- Target Permeability of 1 x 10-6 cm/sec
Background:
The Ameren Missouri power plant is a coal burning complex just north of the town of Labadie, Missouri. The power plant has multiple bottom-ash ponds where groundwater flow needs to be controlled.
Project Objectives:
Geo-Solutions was contracted by Ameren Missouri to install a cutoff wall through one of the levees surrounding their main bottom-ash pond. This included the installation of approximately 18,000 vertical square feet of cutoff wall installed via the soil bentonite trenching method.
Description of Work:
The cutoff wall was installed from the surface of an existing access road and extended through the main pond emergency spillway.
Geo-Solutions selected a Komatus PC 400 and its own custom stick to excavate to the required depth.
The trench was excavated under bentonite slurry manufactured in Geo-Solutions’ on-site batch plant. Due to space constraints, backfill had to be mixed remotely. Trench spoils were trucked from the trench to a mixing area where they were blended with bentonite slurry to create a homogenous backfill mix. The backfill was then trucked back to the trench locations and placed in the trench to create a barrier wall which met the requirements set forth by the specifications.
Geo-Solutions served as the prime contractor for the project. The scope of work for the project also included:
- Quality control and documentation of excavation, backfill, and slurry properties
- Spillway stockpiling and reinstallation
- Installation of an impermeable clay cap.
- Restoration of roadway and spillway
