Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, , 8:45:20 to 8:46:29
A detailed examination of the geological risks involved in the project, including tunneling through fault zones and the excavation of massive underground caverns.
Topics: Infrastructure, Renewable energy
Speakers: Dennis Barnes, Hon Sarah Henderson
>> mean, isn't it the case that the geotechnical challenges are so complex that there is still significant risk in relation to completion of this project?
>> Yeah. So, I I'll probably refer to two things. I think uh 3 years ago I would have been sat here when the power station complex was hardly started and we would have said once the cavern is excavated by about a third we would have gotten over a major geological risk. The cavern is now 90% excavated. So that geological risk we're concerned about didn't Uh two years ago we got seriously concerned about this long plane fault zone. Uh and that drove us to acquire a fourth tunnel boring machine and put in place, you know, specific technology to cover that zone. So yes, you're digging 40 kilometers of tunnels in a mountain and building two caverns the size of the Sydney Opera House. Geological risk is a feature of this