Three Gorges Project Daily
April 17, 2002

‘In recent years, many problems have been discovered in big turbines made in China. More problems are expected with the Three Gorges dam,’ says the head of the project’s quality-control inspection group.

[Qian Zhengying, head of the Three Gorges project quality-control inspection group, spoke to Three Gorges Project Corp. officials at the dam site on April 8, 2002. Her remarks, published by the Three Gorges Project Daily (Sanxia gongcheng bao) on April 11, are translated below. Ms. Qian is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, vice-chairwoman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and a former minister of water resources and electric power.]

The complete text of her speech:

I agree completely with the experts who made speeches yesterday. This morning, Zhang Guangdou, vice-head of the inspection group, and Pan Jiazheng, vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, both made in-depth, comprehensive speeches. I don’t want to just repeat their brilliant suggestions, but will talk about my understanding of several of the main points.

Pleased with your progress

Since our last inspection in December 2001, you have done a great job and fulfilled many objectives in the construction of the dam. As I said at the meeting with you four months ago, I feel confident about your commitment and ability to build the dam. If I had doubts and worries about your work during our inspection tour in December, I now feel more confident. All the members of the inspection group are happy to see that you have already finished the annual plan and have boosted the quality of the construction under particularly complicated and difficult circumstances. Although there are fewer problems with the construction now, we are far from totally satisfied. For example, the concrete-pouring is not first-class, and cracks have been discovered in the dam.

On my way here, I paid a visit to Wang Jiazhu [vice-manager of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp.], who is in hospital in Wuhan [capital of Hubei province]. According to the doctors in Wuhan, Comrade Wang has suffered a lot [from cancer] since January, which is also when the cracks on both the upstream and downstream faces of the dam were discovered. He paid little attention to his own pain and continued working day and night at the dam site, investigating the cracks and trying to figure out the best way to deal with them. The doctors attribute his current condition to overwork. We should all emulate him, especially his spirit of devotion to building the Three Gorges dam. But, at the same time, we should learn lessons from his case. I don’t want to see a second Wang Jiazhu among you, collapsing from overwork on the dam site. I hope everyone here takes care of themselves carefully.

The following are my own opinions, and I have not discussed them with other members of the inspection group.

Dam quality

• The experts are satisfied with your efforts to deal with the cracks on the upstream and downstream faces of the dam. We want you to keep heading in the right direction, and not become the least bit negligent. Further study is needed on dealing with the cracks, with a focus on how to cope with cold spells this winter and next spring. In the meantime, other flaws and problems with the dam also need more attention.

• With respect to the quality of the concrete, as Prof. Zhang has just mentioned, you mustn’t relax even when building the very top of the dam, or accidents and flaws will result. Special attention should be paid to the quality of the spillway section. Future inspections will focus on this key area.

• In curtain-grouting, you should be more careful about the surging water and make sure the drainage systems are working properly.

Electricity-generation issues

Another problem pertains to hydropower generation. I agree with you that the key to promoting economic benefits and repaying loans depends on being able to generate electricity. But unforeseen problems may lie around the corner with the installation, especially with the turbines, as other experts have already mentioned. In recent years, many problems have been discovered in big turbines made in China. And as far as the Three Gorges dam is concerned, more problems are expected because of a much more complicated operating environment and greater variation in reservoir water level. When we invited tenders for the turbines years ago, we assumed the turbines would be operating with the reservoir water level high. And so, based on this assumption, we placed special emphasis on several key technical parameters in the design and manufacture of the turbines.

But now things have changed, given that the turbines will be working in a situation in which the reservoir water level is low for most of the year, as all of us have now realized. In this situation, a major question must be answered: How will the turbines operate under these changed circumstances? The manufacture of the Three Gorges turbines might be superior in several respects, given the better materials used and higher quality-control standards. But we are really concerned about the big difference between the operating conditions we assumed while inviting tenders years ago, and the actual conditions that will pertain when the turbines are put into operation a year and half from now.

It needs to be repeatedly emphasized here that we seek to generate “real” electricity and more electricity, rather than electricity as soon as possible. From my own experience, I have seen the following scenario on many occasions: Today a brand-new hydropower station starts generating electricity after a grand ceremony celebrating the completion of the project – and the next day the station has to cease operating for a lengthy period of inspection and repair. Some projects have become unable to generate electricity at all, and, even if they are able to produce electricity, others have had difficulty reaching the designed generating capacity. I have to say the problem stems from “formalism,” whereby the quality of a project is totally ignored in order to pursue the goal of generating electricity as soon as possible. [Editor’s note: “Formalism” is a term used to criticize officials who ignore the consequences of events when blindly following orders.]

Two issues are closely linked to the problem of ensuring the effectiveness of the turbines. The first relates to their design, but, as I have just mentioned, we can’t do anything about that – the die is cast, since we have signed the contracts with the suppliers. Nothing can be done at the moment about the structure of the turbines, but we should from now on be trying to get more information about them: What problems can be expected? What solutions can be sought to deal with those? And, if possible, can we take steps in advance to avoid the problems altogether?

A second issue relates to the quality of the manufacturing and installation of the turbines. As some experts in the inspection group have suggested, we are still able to improve the turbine manufacturing and installation, to minimize mistakes and weaknesses in the process. To the best of my knowledge, flaws and weaknesses in manufacturing and installation can cause cracks in turbines, especially in ones made domestically. A great deal of attention should be paid to eliminating such unforeseen problems in the production and installation of the turbines.

As I mentioned yesterday, with respect to the turbines that will be installed on the right riverbank, I think it would be better for us to invite tenders for them one year after the turbines on the left riverbank have started generating electricity. Personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to put the turbines on the right bank into operation in a hurry. I suspect that when the reservoir is filled to 135 metres, the volume of water will be sufficient to operate the turbines installed on the left bank. If something should go wrong with those turbines, we will be able to identify and fix the problems and avoid the same problems occurring in the turbines on the right bank. Although the decision is up to the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, the inspection group would like to have a special written report, along with the proposal, submitted to the State Council in a more formal manner.

The permanent ship-lock

As for the permanent ship-lock, we have attached more importance to its construction due to a lack of previous experience given that it is the largest structure of its type in the world. You and I will both be blamed if we cannot sail our boats on the Yangtze after the Three Gorges dam is complete.

During the last inspection in December, we showed you a “yellow card” for your work on the ship-lock because so many flaws were discovered with the concrete-pouring. We were particularly concerned about whether you would be able to fix the problems in a very short period of time. To tell you the truth, on this inspection trip we were ready to show you a “red card,” forcing a halt in construction of the ship-lock if there was no improvement in your work. But after days of inspection, we are delighted to see that you have improved your work and dealt with the problems more carefully by overcoming a series of technical difficulties.

However, we cannot say everything is in perfect order in terms of the quality of the ship-lock. What we can say for certain is that we now have a more detailed understanding of the problems with the ship-lock after days of on-the-spot observation and investigation. And we have asked the supervisory centre of the Wuhan-based Central South Design Institute to submit a written report on the issue.

Pan Jiazheng and Zhang Guangdou, my colleagues and fellow members of the inspection group, have produced a great analysis of the ship-lock quality issue. I agree with their findings and would like to reiterate several main points.

• You have done a good job in dealing with the flaws and cracks on the surface of the ship-lock, with some of this work still on-going. But you must get the whole job done – with no hidden problems remaining, and according to the standards originally set.

• Pay more attention to the issue of temperature variation in the concrete pouring because an unusually hot summer is expected this year.

• Special care needs to be taken to ensure the solidity of the concrete since hollows and flaws are still being found in some places on the surface of the ship-lock.

• We have reached a consensus on dealing with the stagnant water problem affecting the ground projects. I believe we should attach more importance to addressing the problem by increasing the drainage capacity and keeping the drainage systems working well.

In a word, to deal with the ship-lock quality issue, there is a need to strengthen co-operation among a variety of contractors and construction companies so as to create good conditions for the ship-lock to be tested, without water, in the near future.

The ship-lift

As for the cracks on the ship-lift, the expert group has not reached a consensus because there has been no time to have a detailed discussion of the issue, though a special report provided by the Changjiang Water Resources Commission is already available. We recommend that the China Planning and Design Academy for Water Conservancy and Hydropower Electricity double-check the report.

Learning lessons and boosting quality

The Three Gorges Dam is a giant project with very high construction and quality-control standards. In the absence of previous experience, we need to learn from each other so that we can seek truth from facts and promote our awareness of dam-project quality. The cracks in the dam provide one of the best examples: Since the cracks were discovered on the upstream and downstream faces of the dam, Prof. Zhang made self-criticisms on several occasions, and he and I discussed the matter afterward. We both felt that the crack problem was not just yours, but ours as well. Perhaps the inspection group should be held responsible for the consequences. Why? Because we failed to remind you to continue to keep the poured sections warm after we discovered in the winter of 2000 that you were no longer doing so. Lacking sufficient experience, we didn’t realize that keeping the poured sections warm was still necessary. We should learn lessons from the incident and do our job better in future.

The cracks in the permanent ship-lock provide another example. Temperature variation was responsible for these cracks, which resulted not only from the concrete-pouring methods but also from errors in design. As Prof. Zhang has discussed, we have examined and criticized the concrete-pouring problem on many occasions. In my view, we also need to draw some lessons about design in order to improve our standard. For example, on several occasions, Prof. Zhang suggested that the distance between sections should be shorter – say, eight metres instead of the 12 metres proposed by the design institute. Unfortunately, Prof. Zhang’s proposal was not translated into practice for more than a year. Now it emerges that fewer cracks developed after his proposal was adopted. Why can’t the design institute draw lessons from this?

I have a good feeling about the design work done by the Changjiang Water Resources Commission and recommend that the design institutions within the CWRC do more work on design. The design for the Three Gorges project sounds good as a whole, but I have to point out that the CWRC adopted a double standard in some instances, imposing looser requirements on its own work but more restrictive ones on the work of other institutions and corporations. Obviously, this way of operating does not enhance co-operation.

I would like to say something more about the turbines. I think we need to rethink the issue from different perspectives. As mentioned above, I hope all of us will study the issue further because it is going to be the toughest and most complex problem affecting the dam project in the future. What we most need to rethink is why and how we created such a big problem by selecting this particular design and structure for the turbines in the first place. Only through such a rethinking will we be able to raise our awareness and promote the quality of the project.

As far as the three major goals to be achieved by 2003 are concerned, I think you have prepared for them very well and I also believe that you can get the job done. But I have to remind all of you to remain cool-headed because you still face a tight timetable and a particularly complex working environment. In fact, we have no time to waste and no room for errors; those would have a direct impact on the dam project as a whole. You have to pay more attention to the factors causing unforeseen problems that have been mentioned by both Pan Jiazheng and myself. Furthermore, it is especially important for you to move smoothly from concrete-pouring to the next stage, which involves the installation of metal structures and turbines. Finally, I hope you are able to guard against arrogance and rashness, and listen to criticism with an open mind in the future.