#HowItWasBuilt #ThreeGorges #ThreeGorgesDam #Hydropower #Engineering #Dam #Megaprojects #Concrete #Turbines #Construction #Transport #ShipLift #Orlik #Temelin

The monumental story of the world's largest water engineering project – from the earliest visions, geology and cofferdams to block-by-block concrete placement, turbines with an output of “half a Temelín,” five-stage locks and the world's largest ship lift. We explain the technology in a way that is easy for non-experts to understand, compare the project with the Orlík Dam and the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant, and examine its costs, benefits and controversies.
If you enjoy megastructures and clever engineering, this episode is for you. Thank you for listening and for every comment! 🙌




– Research is carried out with the help of AI tools; although we strive for accuracy, we cannot guarantee that all information presented is 100% accurate.  
– The images used are illustrative.
– The content is intended mainly for interest and relaxed listening – ideal for long evenings before sleep or long car journeys.





Sources:
Three Gorges Dam – encyclopedic and technical overviews (English)

China Three Gorges Corporation – technical facts, operations and power generation (English/Chinese)

Water Power Magazine – annual generation, records and operational data (English)

Science Focus – popular-science context and interesting facts (English)

Elementary Engineering Library – construction process, cofferdams, concrete placement and cooling (English)

Czech Wikipedia – Orlík Dam: dimensions and power plant output (Czech)

ČEZ – Temelín: installed capacity and comparison (Czech)

Additional specialist and news overviews of the 1954/1998 floods, shipping and resettlement (English/Czech)





Illustrations:
AndrewHorne
BluesyPete
Yoshi Canopus
gugganij
ProfessorX
Popolon
Vmenkov
Ray_from_LA
allen watkin
Николай Максимович
Gaynor
Harald Groven
allen watkin
Tomasz Dunn
Ekrem Canli
Thomas Bächinger
Fxqf
Richard Chambers
lienyuan lee
Le Grand Portage
Hugh
Dfrancesconi
fading
維基小霸王
lienyuan lee
杨志强Zhiqiang
PoIIy20120203
doka.com


00:00 – Introduction, scale and comparisons (Orlík, Temelín)
01:06 – History of the idea, the Three Gorges location
08:05 – River diversion, cofferdams, foundations, block-by-block
20:16 – Turbines and generators, annual generation
33:30 – Costs, return on investment, landscape impacts and safety