The Satsop water-moving benchmark

The original Satsop engineering comparison

Scale water movement in repeatable 40 cfs modules

State engineering records describe two Ranney collector wells, each with availability as high as 40 cubic feet per second (about 18,000 gallons per minute), and a roughly four-mile supply line originally constructed for the Satsop nuclear project. The line was described as capable of carrying 80 cfs. This is a documented design and authorization precedent, not proof that a new system can continuously run at that rate or claim the same water rights.

The 100-module default is a capacity comparison: about 2.59 billion gallons per day at continuous full rate, or about 387 days for one trillion gallons. Building 100 real modules would require 100 viable sites or equivalent equipment, source water, power, routes, rights and destinations. The historic 80 cfs authorization was later reduced and divided among site users.

State record: 80 cfs line and changing authorizations · State record: 40 cfs wells and four-mile line

Possible junction study · no project volume claimed

Could the Chehalis–Satsop confluence help with floods?

The rivers meet near Satsop, so an off-channel intake and transfer nearby is worth testing on a map and in a flood model. The Satsop gauge records one branch. The Chehalis gauge above the junction has no 2022 record, and the Chehalis gauge below the junction ended its discharge record in 2008. We cannot calculate a defensible junction flood reduction from those three series.

Nearby Lower Satsop floodplain restoration includes habitat ponds. They are not project storage. A proposed transfer would need mapped flood stages, a lawful intake, ecological protections, a viable off-channel site and a hydraulic model demonstrating benefit.