”MADE IN CHINA” Ping.
(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)
Posted on 11/27/2007 6:41:06 PM PST by JACKRUSSELL
Officials behind the massive Three Gorges Dam are preparing to plug any holes in the project even as waters in its reservoir peak in two years.
Since the 2,309-m-long dam was erected in 2003, the water level in the reservoir has risen in stages, reaching 156 m last year.
While the level is scheduled to reach a maximum height of 175 m above sea level in 2009, there have been fears that rising waters from the world's largest hydropower project will further strain shores and trigger landslides.
"The government is closely monitoring and intensifying repair work, and I think we can avoid losses as far as possible," Wang Xiaofeng, director of the Office of Three Gorges Project Construction Committee said Tuesday.
A total of 12 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) has been allocated in the past few years for geological repairs in the area - already a geologically sensitive region previously.
"I would describe it as effective control," Wang told a press conference organized by the State Council Information Office.
"Of course effective control doesn't mean that in the future there won't be any landslides or threats that arise."
Li Yong'an, the general manager of the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp, said the dam had not triggered any "major" landslides along the mainstream of the Yangtze.
Government organs at all levels have also set up specialist teams and mobilized residents to detect possible geological disasters, to avoid or minimize losses as the water level keeps rising.
Apart from preventing geological disasters, the environmental impact of the Three Gorges Dam has been less than originally forecast, experts have said.
Pan Jiazheng, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that careful planning has seen silt accumulation at the reservoir being less than 40 percent of the annual projected figure.
The water quality in the main sections of the Yangtze River is generally stable, and algae bloom condition has not reached the State warning levels.
Wang stressed that the Three Gorges Dam is providing a cleaner source of energy and has also played an important role in taming the Yangtze and controlling floods.
"We are going to be able to weather the worst flooding in 1,000 years," he said.
A thermal power plant of the same capacity as the Three Gorges hydropower project will burn 50 million tons of coal and discharge 100 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, he said.
Aside from improving shipping conditions and ensuring power supply, the project also aims to protect the area's ecological environment, Wang said.
As of the end of September, more than 1.22 million people had been resettled, under the guidance of a special immigration rule ensuring the interests of those relocated, he said.
Apart from the 34 billion yuan ($4.38 billion) used for relocation, efforts are also being made to create more jobs for the resettled population, Wang said.
Hoover Dam “seeps” and thats with 80 years of dry time... 3 Gorges is a disaster waiting to happen ... 175 meters of water!!! held back by Chinese concrete ....
And this ringing endorsement...
Officials behind the massive Three Gorges Dam are preparing to plug any holes in the project
It will silt up in less than 30 years.
Anybody remember stories of substandard concrete from China, just earlier this year?
How long do you suppose it would take for that to show up in a spectacular way, if significant quantities of it has been used in the dam?
I’m betting less than 20 years, with minimal possibility that its detected in time to repair.
(This assumes no assist from a Taiwan firecracker.)
Well, no problem there... 
the MSM will blame it on George W. Bush.
“Officials BEHIND the massive Three Gorges Dam are preparing to plug any holes in the project ...”
I would wanna get in front of it either!
“Officials BEHIND the massive Three Gorges Dam are preparing to plug any holes in the project ...”
I wouldn’t wanna get in front of it either!
I call bulls*** on this. How on earth would CO2 output be double the weight of the coal burned? Where would it come from? Anyone?
The carbon comes from the coal and the oxygen from the air to make the carbon dioxide. As two of the three atoms to make the carbon dioxide are from the air and not the coal, it’s perfectly reasonable that more carbon dioxide would be released than the weight of the coal.
I’m no engineer, but it just seems that massive dams should be in deep narrow passages, with solid rock on either side; and they should be bowed back toward the reservoir. Being long, strait, and built on silty soil just doesn’t seem right. Oh, and they shouldn’t displace millions of people and forever erase thousands of years of history either.
Oh...yep...and Oxygen has a higher atomic weight. I think I had my brain switched off there. Thanks...
I don’t know about 20 years, but I expect, considering all of these stories about substandard construction, that sometime in my lifetime (I’m 22) that there will be a serious incident up there.
“(I’m 22)”...
Damn, when you were born I well into my HS Keg party stage.
ARGH!!!!
ok, gotta calm down... whew.
Which side is the front, and which is the back?
Yup. An almost 600 feet wall of water 420 miles wide put together by standard sub-standard Communist materials and labor.
They seem to be under the impression that just because they spend a billion bucks on it that that fixes the problem.
Spending the money <> a fix necessarily.
Cracks appeared in this thing shortly after construction when they were filling it initially. THen they 'repaired' the cracks.
now the ground around the sides is softening. Reportedly, there are hundreds of tons of metal junk in the reservoir. The landslides create mini-tsunami's in the water and eventually are going to push this junk onto the backside of the dam.
If the cracks don't weaken the structure first.
And if the sides don't wash out first.
There are so many ways this can go wrong and it'll be one of the greatest disasters in human history. Millions will die, at least, maybe tens of millions.
Xinhua is even on their case about it. During a Xinhua investigation, they found hundreds of problems. The govt promised to fix > 100 of them. They've to date fixed about 13 according to a news report, Times of London I think.
The people living around the dam talk about the earth shaking and their houses and barns developing big cracks from the strain the land is under trying to hold back all that water.
Disaster waiting to happen. How else can one describe it??
The Teton Dam in Idaho collapses on June 5, 1976.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.