Three Gorges Dam: The Largest Dam in the World

You will have already entered another new episode of megaprojects. This one has to do with the Three Gorges Dam that a lot of people requested, so if you're thinking. Thanks Simon for making my request, you're welcome. I won't do it. I'm going to thank someone in particular because a lot of people did and let's move on. Today I am also driven by the

three

wolves mug, which is not a commercial item but is available on Amazon. When we talk about megaprojects, there is one colossus that really stands out. It took a hugely ambitious and hugely controversial project almost 90 years from its inception to its opening in 2003.

It is now the

largest

hydroelectric dam in the

world

. A true beast that has broken countless records for size, weight and energy generated. It has enough concrete to build. eight Hoover Dams and the steel equivalent of 63 Eiffel Towers, in fact it is fair to say that there has never been anything like the Three Gorges Dam that spans the Yangtze River in China's Hubei district. The Three Gorges Dam has become a symbol of Chinese progress. This astonishing project raised the bar for human achievement, but came at a staggering cost both in terms of monetary value and also for those living nearby.

This dam was always going to be a balancing act from his previous designs, it was clear that this was a project that could bring enormous benefits to a country eager to cement its place as a

world

leader, but also had the potential to cause an enormous amount of human and ecological suffering. What we see today in the video is truly impressive at 175 meters and 574 feet high. meters that is 593 feet wide at its base and 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) long, it is by far the

largest

dam in the world, capable of producing twenty-two thousand five hundred megawatts of electricity and, later in the video, I'll give you an idea of ​​the scale of that compared to nuclear power plants and it's pretty crazy, its reservoir can hold a staggering nine point four

three

cubic miles, that's thirty-nine point three cubic kilometers. of water that would weigh around 43 billion tons.

These numbers continue to increase. Increasingly crazier, this is a man-made concentration of water so large that it has actually slowed down based on the Earth's rotation. It is estimated that because of the dam, Earth days are now 0.06 microseconds longer and a microsecond is one millionth of a second. So you know, it hasn't slowed down much, but we still did it like humans. I mean, the Chinese did what I didn't do, but you know we as a species, the Chinese, we, while the Three Gorges Dam is a marvel of modern technology. engineering the idea originated 75 years before construction began in 1994 sun yat-sen was president of the republic of china and was the first to raise the idea of ​​a dam on the yangtze river in 1919 to generate electricity, but also as an attempt to Reduce the impact of devastating river flooding 3915 miles than 6002 in Columbus.

The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world and it is estimated that 400 million people live along or near it, that is, more than 17 million more people than live in the By the way, the entire United States, China, a really big country, when the Yangtze floods can cause devastation, unfortunately this has always happened annually, but the impact varies greatly from year to year. The worst flood the Yangtze has ever seen occurred in 1935, resulting in the deaths of one hundred and forty-five thousand people and remains the fifth worst flood in history, but to give you a good idea of ​​how bad the situation in China, the five worst floods have ever occurred in this country, the worst was one in 1931 that killed between one and four million people in 1932 the nationalist governments began preliminary work on the dam, but stopped completely in 1939 with a Japanese invasion of China when the invasion turned into an occupation and the Japanese took on the project themselves.

He was eager for a display venture celebrating their impending victory over the Chinese, but when things began to fall apart for Imperial Japanese forces in China and around Asia, the project was abandoned once again despite the ongoing fighting and Perhaps with one eye on the future, the Chinese government recruited an American named John L. Savage, chief design engineer for the United States Bureau of Reclamation, to survey the area and submit a proposal. His work was received with enthusiasm and 54 Chinese engineers were sent to the United States for training while surveys and economic studies began to inspect the feasibility of the project, but once again things were delayed by the war.

This time it was the Chinese Civil War that had seen intermittent fighting since 1927, but it really reared its head 19:47 effectively stopping any work on the dam project what emerged in 1949, as you may well know, it was China, but a little different : the victorious communist rebels led by Mao Zedong quickly took control of the country now he himself supported the project, but initially chose to draw up plans for the ghetto Berdan means: you Chang, a project that was eventually shelved when the disastrous effects of the Great Leap Forward took effect then there was a catastrophic flood of the Yangtze in 1954 that revived the plans after Mao wrote his famous swimming poem in which he speaks with love. of his desire for a dam now what will your beautiful poetry be about now will it be about dams in 1958 the Chinese authorities announced the hundred flowers campaign in which people were encouraged to express their opinions and thoughts about the communist regime how going to end that spoiler alert not very well numerous engineers spoke out against the tentative plans for the dam on the Yangtze and quickly found themselves in jail as a result Hey guys, what's your opinion?

Oh, it's the opinion that we disagree on the time for Brizard's classic communist China. The entire campaign came to an end with a brutal crackdown on dissent, the small window of freedom of expression slammed shut and names taken. It was not until after Mao Zedong's death in 1976 that plans for the dam began to resurface, but it remained highly controversial. In terms of its social impact, an impact we will get to shortly in 1992, a vote was presented in the Chinese Congress. Now keep in mind that Congress is very different from the Congress that might exist in your country.

China has indeed done it. has been run by a euro trowel, a group of senior leaders, or an absolute leader for as long as anyone can remember, while the votes are actually costing Congress, the process is largely considered symbolic throughout its history, the Chinese Congress has never rejected a proposal. presented by the politician, but this time it was the closest they had ever been to the 3,000 delegates in Congress that day, only 60 (7.75%) voted in favor, which sounds like an overwhelming majority in any other country, but in China it's like war. Oh. So what exactly were the doubts?

Well, they weren't so much about the dam itself as the consequences for the area. The design called for the flooding of the Three Kooten Gorges or Shiite and Shiite areas known throughout China for their exceptional beauty. It has always been an area rich in biodiversity, home to some 6,388 different plant species, of which 57% are considered endangered. The proposed 410-mile-long reservoir would flood 244 square miles of land, displacing large numbers of people and submerging countless cities, towns and villages. Compensation packages have been implemented. Measures were put in place for the displaced, including money and new homes away from the flooded area, but many remained fearful that archaeological sites would also disappear under water, including important science, the bar of people who lived in the area more than 4,000 years ago.

On the other hand, proponents of the project argued that the dam would significantly reduce China's dependence on coal-fired power plants while opening the Yangtze to commerce like never before. With a higher water level, they estimated that barge capacity could increase five or six times what climate claims the dam would be able to regulate water levels, which would mean that terrible flooding would now be a thing of the past. The first phase of construction began in 1993 with the excavation of a side channel through which river water could be diverted during the main construction process. Construction finally began. on the dam on December 14, 1994 and I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that it was the largest construction project in China at the time.

One of the biggest obstacles for engineers was the need to keep the river open during construction for both water flow and river traffic. To do this, they began construction of large concrete structures known as cofferdams that essentially blocked sections of water to allow construction. They were built on several tons of earth that were placed on the dry river bed once completed. They would act as a shield against the real prey that was being planned behind them. The river was officially dammed in November 1997, causing water levels to rise by up to 10 meters and ending the first phase of construction.

The second phase began shortly after with the Adding the concrete now, this sounds like a quick process, but what started from the left bank, slowly working towards the right, took a total of over four years, I just want to say, remember how long Concrete comes into this once the concrete was in place, the first turbines. and generators were slowly added, the cofferdams were then destroyed with explosives, allowing the water to finally reach its intended destination, the turbines, unsurprisingly, the decision was made to bring the generators into operation in stages that way , the dam could begin generating electricity without being fully generated.

Number two on the north side has the distinction of becoming the first active generator on July 10, 2003. The entire north side became operational on September 7, 2005, but operated at reduced power until October 18, 2006, when after the water level in the reservoir reached 156. meters it finally reached nine thousand eight hundred megawatts on the south side. Generator number twenty-two came into operation on June 11, 2007 and successive generations were commissioned over the following years. December 18, 2007 was an important date for the Three Gorges Dam, as it eventually reached 14.1 gigawatts, surpassing the Itaipú Dam on the border between Brazil and Paraguay and becoming the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. in terms of production, and that in Brazil and Paraguay is also an incredible feat.

I really feel like if we covered it here on mega -Projects, it would be too similar to this story, but if you're crazy to know about that dam, let me know in the comments below and I'll take a look at it to see if it's worth doing the final main generator number 27. In operation on May 23, 2012, in total there are 33 huge turbines, each capable of producing 700 megawatts of electricity, along with 34 generators weighing 6,000 tons each. Now I promised you some statistics on how much power it generates compared to other power plants. Consider this when the dam is operating at full capacity, it is producing just over 4 times the energy of the most powerful nuclear power station in the world and could meet the daily electricity needs of around 20 million people in the UK, so This thing could essentially feed a quarter of the UK's water heading into the dam and down concrete tubes to the turbines, allowing them to spin and power the generators and therefore produce electricity. 14 generators were installed on the north side of the dam, 12 on the south side and the remaining six are in the mountains south of the dam.

Now perhaps the biggest concern about the dam is not what you can see but what you can't see. The foundations of the Three Gorges Dam are by far the most vital aspects any failure could have. It led to an unimaginable disaster, in fact I believe there was a dam collapse, the largest dam collapse ever to occur in 19th century China. I looked at it for myself, yes, the bank. Wow, damn, 1975. Wow, it's a lot more recent than I thought, yes, the dam collapse. in 1975 the bank Wow, damn, also in China just gives you an idea of ​​the scale of these disasters and what they can cause this disaster killed there it was crazy it was just an incredible number of people estimated deaths in all ranges up 240,000 people which is extraordinary, so yeah, dam failures are not good things to try to relieve some of the pressure on the foundation, as well as help regulate water levels.

A 483 meter spillway was installed in the center of thedam, this can be opened and closed allowing more or less water. To cross it, 22 gates are included, each 8 meters wide, which shoot water at an absolutely astonishing rate. The dam receives more than 150 cargo ships per day, making it one of the largest locks in the world. The boats are locked inside the locks and then ascend. or down depending on which direction they travel, a process that takes a total of five hours; However, for passenger ships, this time is greatly reduced by using a different method with a boat lift that transports ships up or down in just 40 minutes.

This is done using a helical gear system whereby counterweights are used within the concrete walls to raise the ship, as we mentioned earlier, this has been a project with a lot of conspiracy from the beginning and well, this has continued since then, shortly after filling the reservoir 80 hairline cracks appeared in the dam structure even though all 163,000 units of concrete passed quality control tests. The Chinese government was, of course, quick to dismiss these cracks, but doubts certainly remain. Another attack directed at the prey is that it is not actually doing what it was promised. Remember in the beginning I mentioned those catastrophic floods well, although nothing that bad has happened.

Many have pointed out that in the last decade there has been huge flooding in the area, it is likely that there are other causes of this such as climate change, but considering the project was sold a lot in this regard. An aspect that many understandably question the role of dams. Furthermore, the percentage of China's total electricity obtained from the dam is also considerably lower than was thought in 1993; It was believed that the dam could eventually generate about 10 percent of China's electricity needs, but with increasing usage and a population that would never grow, that figure currently represents only one point two five percent of China's electricity supply.

China. There has also been an increase in landslides in the area. In the first four months of 2010 alone, no less than ninety-seven serious incidents caused by erosion occurred in the Three Gorges Reservoir. The dam was always going to be a balance between the positive and the negative, apart from human displacement, the most significant impact has been on the environment from the beginning, environmentalists warned that the dam would have a serious impact on nutrients downstream, as well as in the flow of sediments. This is why it has enormous ramifications on the ecosystem of the Yangtze's neighboring rivers as well as coastal areas.

A 2006 report states that silicon-to-nitrogen ratios in brackish coastal waters fell from 1.5 in 1998 to 0.4 in 2004, a change that caused significant damage to marine ecosystems. life in coastal areas, leading to further depletion of fish numbers, it was found that in some places the sediment load, which measures the solid matter transported by the river, was half of pre-dam levels, which probably led to further erosion in tidal wetlands, with the risk of more landslides, lastly, rumors of corruption. have continued as long as the project has the Chinese government of course kept quiet about this sort of thing, rumors have circulated for a long time, although the funds for 13,000 farmers in the Gao yang area supposedly disappeared after being sent to the government local.

What you may not have considered about this dam is the incredible amount of trash flowing down it in 2006. It was estimated that the dam had already blocked 10 million tons of trash that would have otherwise flowed out to sea. They don't need me to tell you. that all of that will build up and enter the turbines once this happens, at best some of the turbines stopped working and at worst it could cause a buildup of pressure inside the dam that, if leaves, could eventually cause enormous structural damage, but they came up with a pretty ingenious solution for this, they call it the rolling ton, a moving track a bit like a mechanical walkway found in airports attached to a trash can, literally licks garbage, the device can consume 300 cubic meters, that is. 360 cubic feet of garbage per hour, where it all goes next, that's fine, we don't really know if it's China, toughens up the government, but it certainly goes somewhere far away, over five million tons of silt and sediment get trapped in the bottom of the reservoir.

Each year, such a buildup can impact wildlife and even mechanical systems, such as pipes. With such a large buildup, the dam needs its own system to push silt and sediment to the other site. Gates are also used to regulate water levels. To do this, a hydraulic piston is periodically opened to push silt and sediment through the dam and into the river. Beyond the definitive figures associated with this dam, reading can be a little uncomfortable. In total, 1.2 million people were displaced by the construction, while 140 cities, 13 cities and 1,600 settlements disappeared under water, although there are no definitive figures, the Chinese government has acknowledged more than 100 deaths during the construction of the dam, the cost The final figure is estimated to be around $37 billion although doubts have been raised as to whether in fact it could be even higher, however that number does not seem that high due to the fact that by 2013 the dam had been effectively paid for through energy production;

In reality, there are few projects that can compare with the financial cost of the Three Gorges Dam. and perhaps none that has had the same humanitarian impact, most likely for many years we will not know if it was worth it, will be remembered as a magnificent human achievement that brought clean energy to China or will be remembered as a bloated ecological effort. The disaster caused great hardship to millions of people. Well, I'll have to wait and see, so I really hope you enjoyed this episode of mega projects. If you did, hit the approve button below. Don't forget to subscribe to new videos. a couple of times a week is the schedule we are on right now.

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