This film reveals the technological leaps forward that have allowed the world’s largest hydroelectric gravity dam, the Three Gorges Dam in China, to be built. The dam, that harnesses the power of China’s mighty Yangtze River, is over 2 kilometres long, towers over 60 storeys high, and creates a reservoir 600 kilometres in length. The concrete superstructure has a generating capacity of 22,500 megawatts of power, enough to supply electricity to 60 million people. At its peak over 25,000 men and women were working round the clock to make what was once Chairman Mao’s dream a reality.

The programme explores how this immense project was made possible through a series of five engineering breakthroughs. Six landmark dams, including the Hoover Dam in America, each feature a major technological innovation that allowed engineers to create bigger dams generating ever more hydroelectric power. Using computer-generated animation, we share the incredible stories behind these projects and the inventions that have allowed them to increase in scale. Six ingenious leaps forward that enabled dams to evolve, from BIG, to BIGGER, into the world’s BIGGEST.

00:00 Introduction
04:17 Power Generation – Debdon Dam
11:57 River Diversion – Marèges Dam
19:08 Concrete – Hoover Dam
24:45 Flood – Grand Coulee Dam
31:07 Shipping – Krasnoyarsk Dam
38:15 Sediment – Three Gorges Dam

Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.

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