Three Gorges Dam - A masterpiece or disaster hovering over the head?

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric power plant that is known all over the world, towering across the third Yangtze River on the planet. But the disaster it caused if broken would be extremely devastating.

Started in 1994 and fully operational since July 2012 , the Tam Hiep Dam still holds the throne of the world's largest hydroelectric dam with a length of 2.3km and a height of 185m. Reservoir that the dam created with a surface area over 1,000 km ² .

Three Gorges Dam. (Photo: Xinhua)

To complete the project, 40,000 workers worked non-stop for 12 years, costing tens of billions of dollars.

The government and many Chinese people are very proud of this huge concrete construction. They praised it as a masterpiece of civil engineering, a symbol of renewable energy. With 34 generators, each weighing 6,000 tons, the dam produces 22,500 MW of electricity, enough to power tens of millions of Chinese.

However, this gigantic project suffered from much criticism from the beginning. To build the Three Gorges Dam, Chinese authorities had to relocate 1.3 million people and destroy many historic archaeological sites. About 100 workers were killed during the dam construction.

The Three Gorges Dam has suffered a lot of criticism from the beginning.

The Three Gorges Dam also causes harm to the environment . No one can be sure of the long-term impact of this super-structure, but the number of fish species declines and pollution increases because the river's self-cleaning nature has been nullified by the dam.

The pressure putting on the area where the reservoir creates can cause many landslides . In fact, another hydroelectric dam in the area was broken by landslides. Not to mention, the reservoir is located on two different fault lines so it is thought to increase seismic activities .

In addition, sediment deposits are accumulating behind the dam rather than flowing downstream to nourish crops and wildlife. Although design engineers have devised ways to allow some of this sediment to flow through the dam, an estimated 30-60% of the amount is still trapped behind the dam. This situation is the culprit that is causing all problems in the ecosystem .

But perhaps the most devastating risk lies in the possibility of the dam being broken at some point due to seismic activity or the weakening of the dam itself. If this happens, it will cause floods at unprecedented levels.

This catastrophic scenario, if it happens, will create a terrible tsunami, wiping out the entire lower Yangtze , because the water energy from the pressure of the flow is terrible. It also caused China to suffer from power shortages, economic collapse and disease outbreaks.