Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Three Gorges Dam Begins Storing Water

Posted by michael on from the snorkels-in-short-supply dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "The Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in the world, and one of the largest engineering projects underway right now, has begun accumulating water in the reservoir."

9 of 667 comments (clear)

  1. lamenating progress by lingqi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe, but you have got to realize how badly they need the power.

    1.4 BILLION people. consider.

    And do you really think it's possible to have China start to rely heavily on nuclear power, without the US getting nervous? Heck, the US is twitchy enough as it is.

    So, yes, three-gorges is a beautiful place, but if this allows that many people to afford heat in the winter, or lights under which to read, so be it.

    Otoh, I really think the current party do partly hope that the dam will turn out to be like the great-wall - legendary, etc. To that I go "huh?"

    side-note: Tibet will get its natural gas deposit pumped next, probably...

    last side-note: The one thing I thought that was kinda unfortunate is that three-gorges is purely a gravity dam, which might not be necessary considering that the place of the thing, after all, is a GORGE...

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

    1. Re:lamenating progress by junkgrep · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The amount of power this will generate wont even remotely cover what China needs as far as their long term energy plans. This project has been a party glurge for decades: it was announced by the party to be a big demonstration of China's industrial might, and it's more of point of desperate pride-at-all-costs than a wise infastructure decision. The silliest thing is that no one, not even people in China, are really all that impressed by it. It's not exactly a truly groundbreaking feat of engineering: all it is is an ambitious scope. And it may well turn out to be a very, very dumb idea in a region that has huge earthquakes not so infrequently.

  2. A Nice Target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anyone want to wipe out the lower half of China has now been given a perfect missle target. Although much ignored by Western media, note that China also faces Uygurs terrorist (otherwised called "freedom fighters" by Western media) threats connected with al Quaeda in the XinJiang Province.

  3. Re:No offense to the chineese but by asparagus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, you may be pro-dam, but the hard-line enviromentalists are against dams for ecosystem reasons. From a politican's standpoint, if you don't have their support, there's little point supporting building them because they'll still attack you come election time for destroying the enviroment.

    That being said, I'm glad got the chance to visit the Three Gorges before they destroy them.

    This thing is big. Really big.

    -Brett

  4. Re:Hoover dam will stand 1800 years! by sllim · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe he is making stuff up, maybe not.
    Back when the Hoover Dam was built over-engineering was considered the best way of building, well almost anything.

    You have to consider that it is the computer that has helped us under-engineer stuff.
    When the Hoover dam was built you had little choice. If you tried to use the correct amount of concrete on the correct scale you might have gotten it wrong.
    If you multiplied that number by a factor of 10 (consider the poster did say 1800 years, 180 years is 1/10th that) then you know that even if you did make a mistake somewhere you still wouldn't have a problem.

    Look at the difference between old time skyscrapers (Empire State) and new ones (not a completley fair comparison, but the World Trade Center).
    The Empire State building has taken at least 2 plane hits during its lifespan.

    Once during WWII with a twin engine bomber.

  5. There is a hell of a lot of criticism of China... by caitsith01 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...but what are they supposed to do?

    Yes, this dam will damage the environment.

    Yes, it will displace many people.

    Yes, it is dangerous in terms of earthquakes and flooding if it collapses.

    BUT, it is going to generate *18.2 MILLION kilowatts* of power, indefinitely, with no ongoing pollution. The alternatives are presumably:

    - coal or oil power, causing a massive amount of greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming (yes it does exist, America) and drawing fire from the same people who are criticising the environmental impact of the dam

    - nuclear power, leading to large amounts of nuclear waste and with an increased risk of a meltdown occurring in a 2nd/3rd world country with dubious safety records and high levels of corruption ... drawing fire from the same people who are criticising the environmental impact of the dam

    - China goes without power, and the western world continues to get fat and happy using our own dams, nuclear plants and coal fired power stations and sweet sweet Iraqi oil

    Obviously the ideal solution would be for China to be able to build a project that produced this much power from solar/wind/tidal energy sources, but the cost at present would be insanely prohibitive. Quite frankly I have more respect for the energy policy of a nation that is trying to generate power without relying on fossil fuels and nuclear reactors than one that is actively trying to expand its power generation in those areas. Of course no other countries I can think of have built massive, environmentally questionable (*cough* Hoover *cough*) dams, have they?

    --
    Read Pynchon.
  6. Re:construction standards aren't that great by Strudelkugel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've read not too encouraging things about the construction of the dam. Guess I would much rather be one of the people displaced upstream of the thing than live downstream after the water fills in the reservoir. I also read that the weight of the water will likely cause earthquakes. One H*** of an experiment they are running...

    --
    Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
  7. Re:repeat after me: it's a Good Thing(tm) by Nept · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Btw, did you know that when shit like this happens (government forces you to move), they pay you a whole lot of money, at least in chinese standards?

    That's a load of shit, or you're not acquainted with the facts. 1.5 million people have been displaced and were not given a lot of money.

    Resettlement: In the 1980s, China passed regulations to protect the rights of those displaced by the dam projects and assure them of adequate compensation. But human rights activists asserted that rural dwellers are being discriminated, that they are not being consulted about their eviction, that they are often crowded onto poor land with unsatisfactory living conditions and few job opportunities, that they are not being taught new job skills, that corruption is diverting the funds meant to compensate them, that their local culture is threatened and that the government has provided no channels for them to express dissatisfaction

    source: http://www.chinaonline.com/refer/ministry_profiles /threegorgesdam.asp

    --
    "Teachers leave us kids alone ..." - Roger Waters, Pink Floyd
  8. E=mc**2 by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Another way to express it is six kilograms of energy every year.

    It would be awe-inspiring to look at the power lines leaving the dam and realize they were carrying enough to (theoretically) synthesize a gram of antimatter every 3 hours. (Not 90 minutes, because you'd have to synthesize a gram of matter at the same time).