In the Wet Placement of Articulated Concrete Block Mat by Divers

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11^th, 2011 highlighted the enormous consequence when cooling mechanisms fail at a nuclear power plant. During this emergency a ‘Plan B' scenario was activated that brought sea water into the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to cool the residual heat. This highlights the importance of having large quantities of water available and the ability to channel that water directly into the reactor. Another natural disaster, a series of large hurricanes, came through Florida during the 2004 and 2005 seasons creating extensive damage to canals designed to furnish seawater to a nuclear power plant located in Port St. Lucie, Florida. A typical reconstruction project to repair the channel lining might entail dewatering, but that was not an option since as a designated emergency backup mechanism this would shut down the plant. Therefore ‘In the Wet' reconstruction made sense and the owners issued a design build proposal mandating no plant shutdowns.