Guest Post by David Vardy and Ron Penney
The recently released SNC Lavalin risk assessment report
identifies the dearth of geo-technical investigations as one of the highest
risks of the Muskrat Falls project. In his Uncle Gnarley post of June 29, 2017 Cabot
Martin cites this report to confirm his claim that the North Spur is one of the
major threats to the project and to the people living and working close to the
site. The SNC report refers to “major scope change.” Cabot states:
Now “major scope change“ with regard
to an admittedly unstable dam component like the North Spur is engineer code
for “Your proposed North Spur stabilization design could be unsafe and to make
it safe will require as yet unknown and un-costed extra work.”
And also unstated is that geotechnical conditions
may be found (like Quick Clay) which will in effect be impossible to cure.
