Hells Canyon Dam

Infobox_Dam
dam_name = Hells Canyon Dam

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caption = Aerial view of Hells Canyon Dam
official_name = Hells Canyon Dam
crosses = Snake River
reservoir = Hells Canyon Reservoir
locale = Hells Canyon
maint = Idaho Power Company
length =
height = 330 ft (100 m)
width =
began =
open = 1967
cost =
reservoir_capacity = 188,000 acre-feet (232,000,000 m³)
reservoir_catchment = 73,300 square miles (189,800 km²)
reservoir_surface = 2,430 acres (10 km²)
bridge_id =
map_cue =
map_

map_text =
map_width =
coordinates = coord|45.24472|-116.69833|region:US_type:landmark
extra =

Hells Canyon Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Snake River (river mile 247) in Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border. The dam impounds the Snake River in Hells Canyon Reservoir; its spillway elevation is 1680 feet (512 m) above sea level.

It is the third and final hydroelectric dam of the Hells Canyon Project, which includes Brownlee Dam (1959) and Oxbow Dam (1961), all built and operated by Idaho Power Company. The contractor for the Hells Canyon Dam was Morrison-Knudsen.

The Hells Canyon Dam powerhouse contains three generating units, with a total nameplate capacity of 391 megawatts. Power generation began with two units in 1967, the third came on line the following year. Lacking passage for migrating salmon, the three dams of the Hells Canyon Project blocked access by anadromous salmonids to a stretch of the Snake River drainage basin from Hells Canyon Dam up to Shoshone Falls, which naturally prevents any upstream fish passage to the upper Snake River basin.

External links

* [http://www.cbr.washington.edu/crisp/hydro/hel.html Hells Canyon Dam] , Columbia Basin Research
* [http://www.nwcouncil.org/dams/dam.asp?id=18 Hells Canyon Dam] , Northwest Power and Conservation Council
* [http://www.idahopower.com/riversrec/relicensing/hellscanyon/hellscanyon/ Hells Canyon Project] , Idaho Power