Three Gorges Dam Engineering Feat on the Yangtze
A distant view of the massive Three Gorges hydropower project under construction on the Yangtze River.
Chinese workers on the Three Gorges Dam. Up to 27,000 people have helped with the world's largest construction project, which displaced more than 100 million cubic meters of earth.
The final part of the main section of the Three Gorges Dam started at 4:00 a.m. on Friday in the middle reach of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China. The placement of the last concrete wall is due to finish on Saturday, which will mark the completion of the dam's main wall.
Workers pour concrete on the main section of the Three Gorges Dam on May 19.
The dam is situated near the Xiling Gorge, the easternmost gorge of the Three Gorges on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Workers holding red flags celebrate placing the last concrete wall on May 20, 2006.
The dam is designed to withstand earthquakes up to 7.0 on the Richter scale and deliver 18 gigawatts of electricity -- 13 times the capacity of a modern nuclear power station.
All 26 turbines of the world's largest water-driven power station should be installed by 2008, to help meet China's rising energy demand. So far 14 turbines are working, each with a capacity of 700 megawatts.
A dam at Three Gorges was suggested as early as 1919 by the republic's first president, Sun Yat-sen. Now it's one of the most visible projects of China's Communist Party.
The dam can raise the Yangtze as high as 170 meters above sea level. But the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, the damage to the local ecosystem and the loss of rich farmland have been permanent. Environmentalists say Three Gorges should provide a cautionary tale to an energy-hungry government pushing similar hydropower dam projects.
