What is the Worlds Largest Dam?
The world’s largest dam is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China. Structural work was completed in 2006. The dam is 2,309 m (1.4 mi) long and 185m 607 ft) tall, six times the size of the Hoover Dam. When its generators are installed and it goes online in early 2009, it will be the world’s biggest power plant. The Three Gorges Dam will generate 18.2 GW, or about 2% of China’s total power consumption. China’s exploding economy needs power, and considerable effort has been placed towards alternative forms of energy which do not pollute the air, as China’s primary source of energy is coal. The Three Gorges Dam has been at the center of controversy since its construction was announced. Over 1,000,000 people had to be evacuated to avoid the flood basin it created, which is 660k m (410 mi) long and submerges 632 sq km of land. 1,200 towns and villages were relocated in preparation for its construction. Following an incident in 1975 during Super Typhoon Nina where 140,000 people w
There’s the biggest size dam, i.e. the largest in size, which is the Syncrude Tailings in Alberta, Canada which has been constructed not to generate hydro electricity but in use with an oil extraction business. Length 18km (11.3 miles) Height upto 88m (288ft) Rather than a dam in the traditional sense, i.e. blocking a flowing river, the Syncrude dam is a hotpotch made from sand left over from the process of extracting the oil from it (tar sands).
In 1993 construction began on Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest dam, and is expected to be completed in 2009. The Three Gorges Dam will span the Yangtze River in China creating a 370 mile long lake behind it. The dam will be a damming 600 feet high and a beaver-impressing 1.2 miles wide. The total cost for the dam should be just under $30 million USD.
• The Tarbela dam in Pakistan is the world’s largest, holding back nearly 160,000 cubic yards of water. But when the Three Gorges dam in China is completed in 2009 it will take over that title. (Source: Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation and International Water Power and Dam Construction.
