'Deficiencies' in some Muskrat Falls transmission towers add on extra work

Nalcor Energy contractor Valard Construction will be re-doing a small percentage of its transmission towers for the Muskrat Falls project, after issues were found during inspection.

In an email to CBC, Nalcor called the problems 'deficiencies', which company vice president Gilbert Bennett added were not serious, mostly having to do with the towers' foundations.

"From time to time, you might find that there are some minor issues that need to be reworked in the field, where something did not meet our specification," Bennett told Labrador Morning.

"It happens because you have work that's being undertaken in field conditions. We're not in a factory here. We're in field conditions, and from time to time the work wasn't completed exactly the way you'd like it to have [been] done."

Bennett compared the issue to a homeowner looking over recent renovations.

"It's not really a surprise to see that your general contractor might have to come back, and fill in a nail hole in the drywall, or a gap in the ceiling as the house settles. Those types of activities are expected."

Small number affected

Bennett could not provide exact numbers, but said about one per cent of the towers between Muskrat Falls and Churchill Falls are affected, which he called, "a handful."

There will be 1262 transmission towers in all along that stretch once complete. Bennett said about 85 per cent of those towers have been assembled.

Valard Construction is responsible for the repairs.

"There's no cost to us. The expectation is the work is done to the specification, and that's the contractor's job, to deliver it that way," said Bennett.

The additional work is not expected to add to the project's overall timeline.

Bennett said the same inspection process will be used on the transmission towers being built between Muskrat Falls and Forteau, which is still in the "early days" of construction.