Three Gorges Dam
Introduction
The Three Gorges Dam (in Chinese, pinyin, Sānxiá Dàbà) is a hydroelectric plant located on the Yangtze River in China. It is the largest hydroelectric plant in the world in area and installed capacity. The entire project, which includes the dam itself, power plants, transportation, bypasses and the construction of other related buildings, totals concrete, according to official figures from 2012. The work has cost more than any other construction project in history, with unofficial estimates of up to $75 billion.[1].
At its maximum capacity, the dam retains water 91 meters above river level. This is equivalent to an approximate weight of 42 billion tons concentrated in an area small enough to alter the Earth's course as if it were an earthquake. As a result, according to NASA experts, the Earth has altered its course by 2 centimeters from its axis.[2].
The dam, already suggested by the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong in the 1950s, began to be built in 1993 to respond to the growing energy demand of the Yangtze Delta, and also to try to reduce flooding and flooding of the river. In 2016, China completed the work on the dam with the implementation of the last detail of the work, an elevator so that ships can overcome the dam.[3].
Opponents of the project have criticized the displacement of nearly 1.28 million people for its construction, in addition to the negative environmental impact and the loss of cultural heritage that has been submerged under the waters.[4].
History
The idea of a large dam on the Yangtze River was originally conceived by Sun Yat-sen in his book * International Development of China *, in 1919. in the Three Gorges in 1932. In 1939, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese military forces occupied Yichang, examined the area and designed the Otani plan in anticipation of a Japanese victory over China. In 1944 John L. Savage"), chief design engineer of the United States Bureau of Reclamation"), also inspected the area and developed the "Yangtze River Project" to build a dam. top and bottom of the dam. In the case of smaller vessels, groups of vessels would be lifted together to increase efficiency. It is not known if the objective of this solution was to ensure water savings or if the engineers thought that the height between the top and bottom of the dam was excessive to use alternative methods.[9] Various economic studies, exploration tasks and some design work were carried out, but the government, in the midst of the Chinese civil war, stopped the project in 1947.