A zoned clay-core, rockfill embankment dam with a height of 113m, Copeton Dam has a storage capacity of 1364GL and was originally commissioned in 1976. It recently underwent a $60 million upgrade which involved constructing a 250m-wide, 12m-deep auxiliary fuse-plug spillway to enable the dam to withstand extreme floods by passing excess water in a staged approach. The upgrade elements included bulk excavation of the spillway channel involving the excavation by drill and blast of approximately 1.2Mm~3 of granitic bedrock, and the construction of a four-bay fuse plug concrete structure including floor slabs anchored to the rock, cutoffs, divider walls, abutment side walls and earth embankments. Works to construct four new fuse plug spillway bays are now complete and the spillway will now only be triggered in the unlikely event of an extreme flood.
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