‘No problem at all’ with China’s Three Gorges Dam as warping rumours denied
- All measurements in line with project’s design parameters, experts say
- No truth to social media claims sparked by Google Maps images
The state-owned operator of China’s Three Gorges Dam has moved to quash rumours that the world’s largest hydropower project is in trouble, after images from Google Maps circulated which appeared to show the structure had warped.
In a statement on its WeChat social media account, the company said the mammoth Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River was in normal working order, with all metrics up to standard, and it was running “safely and reliably”.
Claims began circulating on overseas social media platforms at the beginning of July that the dam was in danger of collapse, and recently were picked up among China’s online community.
But China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) has refuted the claims, saying all measurements of the dam’s displacement were in line with its design parameters, which require a degree of flexibility.
“The distribution of vertical and horizontal displacements is related to the height of the dam … and is in line with the deformation law of a concrete gravity dam,” the company said.
CTGC said expert quality inspectors had reviewed the project’s safety monitoring system and any likely structural change in reaching their conclusion.