Richard B. Russell Dam

Richard B. Russell Dam
Richard B. Russell Dam
Location	Abbeville County, South Carolina / Elbert County, Georgia, USA
Coordinates	34°01′30″N 82°35′39″W / 34.02500°N 82.59417°W / 34.02500; -82.59417Coordinates: 34°01′30″N 82°35′39″W / 34.02500°N 82.59417°W / 34.02500; -82.59417
Construction began	1974
Opening date	1985
Construction cost	$626 million USD
Operator(s)	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Embankment, concrete-gravity
Impounds	Savannah River
Height	210 ft (64 m) (thalweg)
Length	.98 mi (1.58 km)
Reservoir
Creates	Richard B. Russell Lake
Catchment area	2,890 sq mi (7,500 km2)
Surface area	26,650 acres (10,780 ha)
Power station
Type	Pumped-storage
Turbines	8 total: 4 x 75 MW (101,000 hp), 4 x 75 MW reversible
Installed capacity	600 MW (800,000 hp)
Annual generation	465.5 GWh (1,676 TJ)

Richard B. Russell Dam is a concrete-gravity and embankment dam located on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Richard B. Russell Lake. The dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1974 and 1985 for the purposes of flood control, hydroelectricity, recreation, additional stream flow regulation, water supply, and fish and wildlife management. The concrete structure of the dam spans 1,904 feet (580 m) and rises 210 feet (64 m) above the riverbed, housing a hydro-power plant with an installed 600 megawatts (800,000 hp) capacity. The Richard B. Russell Dam is the final large dam completed by the U.S. Army Corps in the Savannah River Basin and lies 30 miles downstream from the Hartwell Dam (1962) and 37 miles (60 km) upstream from the J. Strom Thurmond Dam (1954).

The Flood Control Act of 1966 authorized construction of a new reservoir on the Savannah River to be named Trotters Shoals Lake and Dam. The lake and dam were renamed in 1987 after Georgia senator Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. in the same bill that also renamed Clarks Hill Lake to Lake Strom Thurmond. Construction on the new dam began in 1974 and filling of the lake began in October 1983. The lake reached full pool in December 1984 and the original power plant of four 75 megawatts (101,000 hp) conventional turbine-generators went online in January 1985. In 1992, the addition of four 75 MW reversible pump-turbine units was completed, giving the dam a pumped-storage hydroelectricity capability.