Three Gorges Dam Construction Project

triplet Gorges dike Construction Project branch 1 Goal, Scope and RationaleThe Three Gorges dike is widely accepted as the largest occlude Construction final cause to ever take place. The main goal of the externalise was to design and shape up the biggest hydroelectric block of the existence on the Yangtze River in China, which would be over clxxx meters in height and 2.3 km in width.The motivation behind compeling the dkm was in order to chasteness the rivers water levels to limit flooding, and to obtain hydroelectric male monarch. (YangtzeRiver.org) (Power-Technology, 2010) The dekametre was intended to raise the water level on one side of the river by 100 meters. This would lead to many small towns and buildings that were near the Three Gorges block to become flooded. In fact, over one million people were to be displaced in order to construct the dike. In order to accommodate the people who were displaced, new towns had to be built in order to transport the peo ple living near the Dam to other safe domains. The hurl also involved facility some 28 generators in order to produce an estimated 18 MW of hydroelectric proponent. (LongPassages.org) An additional 6 ability generators are planned to be installed in order to increase the Dams power production readiness (InternationalRivers.org) The Dam was also designed to facilitate ship locks, which would be extremely useful in order to spare ships to travel across the dam without interfering with their travel route options. (LongPassages.org) The Project was given the green write down for construction to begin in 1992 precisely official construction started in 1994. The Project court was estimated at $9 billion. The project was to be funded by several different sources including international banks from Switzerland and Canada and various other companies. (InternationalRivers.org) member 2 Strategy Alignment The Three Gorges Dam was a project undertaken by the Chinese regime. As the Chi nese government obviously did not hold in the resources available to construct the Dam, e.g. expertise, experience and equipment, the Chinese government outsourced to European and Ameri wad companies. Western companies which were involved in the project were mainly involved with supplying the power equipment and restrictions were imposed on them. It was agreed upon that the manufacture of the power equipment much(prenominal) as generators and turbines had to take place in China, in partnership with local companies. (InternationalRivers.org)In the example of the Three Gorges Dam, which is a government led project, it can be clearly observed how the project aligns with the governments strategy. China is generally accepted as one of the largest coke Dioxide emitting countries in the world coming in second place behind the United States and suffers from increasing befoulment levels in the air. In addition to this, China is considered to be a booming economy, with an ever increasing have for energy. In order to be able to supply this increasing demand in energy, without increasing its vitamin C footprint, the Chinese government implemented a strategy of investing in clean sources of energy such as hydroelectric power. (DavorH, 2015)To some extent the Three Gorges Dam aligns with this strategy as it promised. The Dam would produce 18 MW of clean hydroelectric power which would in turn reduce Chinas dependency on ember for energy production and would reduce Chinas carbon footprint. Also the Dam would enable the avowling of water levels and thus flooding. (Hays, 2013) (YangtzeRiver.org)There were of course alternative ways to produce clean energy and to reduce Chinas carbon footprint, earlier than building the Three Gorges Dam. Some alternatives include nuclear power, solar energy, Wind energy or yet investing in making energy production from coal power stations more efficient. each these methods could also have reduced Chinas carbon footprint.Section 3 Man agement of RiskWhen it comes to stakes, the Three Gorges Dam can be considered to pose many. From risks to the environment, to financial risks, to physical risks, the Three Gorges Dam has them all.I believe that in my opinion the largest risk is the physical risk of a major seism. Geologists have confirmed that the Dam lies on the intersection of two fault lines. This is usually the area most prone to earthquakes as tectonic plates sea-coast across each other.It is believed that even though the Dam lies in a high risk area already, the massive weight of the water exerts extremely high pressure on the ground below the Dam which can eventually assist in the formation of an earthquake. Several tremors have been recorded near the Dam since its construction which has raised concern over this phenomenon. (Watson, 2008)It is possible that in the event of a large earthquake, the Dam could possibly collapse. In the event that the Dam would collapse, massive amounts of water would be sudde nly released and allowed to travel downstream, as well as massive pieces from the Dam wall. This could result in large scale destruction of berth downstream, destruction of the environment and even mass scale death since millions of people live downstream of the river. The Chinese government has been addressed with these concerns from its citizens. The Chinese government has made a statement ensuring the public that the largest scale earthquake that is possible in that region is not large enough to destroy the Dam. (Adams, 2011)I believe the risk of an earthquake destroying the Dam is the most significant risk to the Three Gorges Dam as it poses a risk that occurs suddenly and there is no warning given prior to the event which would enable engineers to assess the situation.Section 4 Conclusions Evaluation of Project SuccessWhen taking into consideration what the main goal of the project was, which was to build the worlds largest Dam and hydroelectric power station, the project has succeeded. The Three Gorges Dam is now the largest Dam in the world and the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world.On the other hand, there were other aspects in which the project can be considered to have failed. The project was aimed to cost $9 billion before construction begun, but by 2012 the expected cost had climbed up to $37.2 billion. The actual cost was more than 4 times the estimated cost before the project had begun and this is a major problem for the projects success. With regards to time, the project begun construction in 1994 and construction was effected in 2006. (InternationalRivers.org)At the end of the Dams completion, an estimated 1.4 million paper were calculated to have been forced to relocated someplace else, a total of 16 cities, 140 towns and 1350 villages were submerged in water. (BBC, 2012)On the other hand, the reason the Dam was constructed was to produce hydroelectric power in order to reduce the Chinese Governments dependency on coal, and to c ontrol flooding. With regards to power production, in 2012, the Dams power production capacity was 22.5 Gigawatts, which is equal to an outstanding 11% of Chinas hydroelectric power production capacity. The fact that a single Dam amounts to 11% of the countries hydroelectric power production capacity can definitely be considered as a success in that manner. With regards to flooding control, Chinese officials have stated that the Dam is a solution to the problem of flooding. (BBC, 2012) In my opinion, I consider the whole project to have been a success, as it has increased Chinas hydroelectric power production capacity by a large amount as well as allow for the arrogant of life taking floods. sluice though the project cost far more than estimated, and has created problems for some people I believe that the net goal of increasing Chinas hydroelectric power production capacity as well as allowing for the controlling of flooding was achieved and therefore the project can be considere d a success.References Adams, P. (2011) Chinese study reveals Three gorges dam triggered 3, 000 earthquakes, numerous landslides. Available at https//journal.probeinternational.org/2011/06/01/chinese-study-reveals-three-gorges-dam-triggered-3000-earthquakes-numerous-landslides/ (Accessed 5 December 2016).BBC (2012) Chinas Three gorges dam reaches operating peak. Available at http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18718406 (Accessed 5 December 2016).DavorH (2015) China hydropower as the right solution? Available at http//www.our-energy.com/china_hydropower_as_the_right_solution.html (Accessed 5 December 2016).Hays, J. (2013) THREE GORGES DAM BENIFITS, PROBLEMS AND COSTS. Available at http//factsanddetails.com/china/cat13/sub85/item1046.html (Accessed 5 December 2016).InternationalRivers.org Available at https//www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/3gorgesfactsheet_feb2012_web.pdf (Accessed 5 December 2016).LongPassages.org Available at http//www.longpassa ges.org/3_gorges_dam.htm (Accessed 5 December 2016).Power-Technology (2010) Available at http//www.power-technology.com/projects/gorges/ (Accessed 5 December 2016).Watson, S. (2008) Why could chinas Three gorges dam cause an environmental disaster?Available at http//science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/three-gorges-dam-disaster1.htm (Accessed 5 December 2016).YangtzeRiver.org Available at http//www.yangtzeriver.org/threegorges_dam/why-built-three-gorges-dam.htm (Accessed 5 December 2016).