Comparison of Three Gorges specifications in Canadian feasibility study with those chosen by Chinese officials
(January 12, 2011) Comparison of specifications recommended by the Canadian engineering feasibility study with those chosen and built by the Chinese Government for the Three Gorges dam. Continue reading →
China’s power sector revolution stalled
(October 14, 2010) Probe International’s Brady Yauch provides a historical look at stalled reforms in China’s electricity sector. Continue reading →
“Fill a lake, start an earthquake”: Damming and Reservoir-Induced Seismicity
(April 4, 2000) A paper by Heather Gingerich, a medical geologist who specializes in hydrogeochemistry and the director of the Canadian chapter of the International Medical Geology Association, detailing evidence in support of reservoir-induced seismicity RIS as a distinct geophysical phenomenon causally related to reservoir impoundment. Continue reading →
Ship lift at Three Gorges Dam, China — design of steel structures
The vertical ship lift at the Three Gorges Dam in China will consist of a reinforced concrete structure with an internal steel ship chamber. The chamber will be a self-supporting orthotropic plate structure, continuously suspended from ropes with counterweights. Its components, such as segment gates, drive, horizontal guiding systems in the longitudinal and transverse directions plus locking and safety mechanisms are described here. A special procedure for reducing the tolerances of the steel components embedded in the reinforced concrete structure is explained. Continue reading →
Damming the Three Gorges: What Dam-Builders Don’t Want You To Know
Nine independent experts express their professional outrage at a Canadian government-financed study that recommends building the Three Gorges dam in China, which would require the forcible relocation of one million people and the destruction of one of the world’s most magnificent canyons. The findings prompted Probe International to file a formal complaint with the professional engineering associations against Canadian engineering firms for professional misconduct, negligence, and incompetence.
The Three Gorges Project: Development and Environmental Issues
The following is a study produced by Dr. Shu Gao of Nanjing University. It provides background on the history of the Three Gorges Dam project, and the resulting environmental issues. Continue reading →
Tackling the growing problem of sedimentation
Worldwide experts will convene in South Africa in September 2010. At the top of their agenda is the growing problem of river sedimentation. Professor Gerrit Basson explains why tackling this issue is of great importance to the dams industry. Continue reading →
Yangtze! Yangtze!
An extraordinary collection of interviews, essays, and statements by Chinese scientists, journalists, and intellectuals opposed to the massive Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze River. Originally published in 1989 as the democracy movement was gathering momentum, Yangtze! Yangtze! is credited with pressuring the State Council to postpone the dam, and inspired the democracy movement by striking an unprecedented blow at powerful state authorities promoting the dam. This pioneering critique is now available in English, expanded to include post-Tiananmen events. Continue reading →
The River Dragon Has Come! The Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of China’s Yangtze River and its People
The River Dragon Has Come! is another monumental work by the courageous Chinese writer Dai Qing. It tells the story of how government officials and dam boosters are manipulating common sense, economics, and politics to promote the world’s largest dam project, the Three Gorges dam. Echoing the cry of a witness to the 1975 collapse of the Banqiao and Shimantan Dams in 1975 which killed thousands, The River Dragon Has Come! warns that a dam collapse at Three Gorges would cause a man-made disaster of unprecedented proportions. The River Dragon has Come! is a follow-up to Dai Qing’s 1989 ground-breaking Yangtze! Yangtze!. Continue reading →
The Story of the Dahe Dam
Many of the farmers uprooted for the Dahe dam, built 30 years ago on a Yangtze tributary in what is now Chongqing municipality, are being moved again for the Three Gorges project. “To learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in China, this book about the ruinous consequences of one small dam is an excellent place to start,” Dai Qing writes in her introduction to the translation of this important work by sociologist Ying Xing. The original Chinese version of the book, published under the title Dahe yimin shangfangde gushi (A Tale of Migrants Displaced by the Dahe Dam), was banned in China in 2002, but is available on our Chinese site. The on-line publication and translation of this book have been made possible by the Open Society Institute. Continue reading →
International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Guidelines
The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) is a non-governmental International Organization which provides a forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience in dam engineering. ICOLD publishes bulletins related to specific aspects of dam design and safety, including guidelines that are concerned with seismic aspects of dams, available on their website.
