Special Report

ISA trade mission visits Three Gorges Dam

three-gorges-dam-2One of the stops on the recent Iowa Soybean Association China trade mission was the Three Gorges Dam.

The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric dam based on generating capacity. According to information found at about.com, it is 1.3 miles wide, over 600 feet in height, and has a reservoir that stretches 405 square miles. The reservoir helps control flooding on the Yangtze River basin and allows 10,000-ton ocean freighters to sail into the interior of China six months out of the year. The dam’s 32 main turbines are capable of generating as much electricity as 18 nuclear power stations and it is built to withstand a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. The dam cost $59 billion and 15 years to construct. It is the largest project in China’s history since the Great Wall.

The Three Gorges Dam has not been without controversy, however.  While proponents argue that the dam creates needed electric power, controls floods (which saves lives), improves navigation and aids irrigation, among other benefits, opponents counter that the project relocates over a million people, inundates important archaeological and cultural sites, has environmental issues, and could be disastrous to hundreds of millions of people who live downriver should a severe storm, earthquake or terrorist attack occur.

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