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Enormous New Dam Fails In Brazil
New Scientist ^
| 7-10-2006
Posted on 07/10/2006 8:15:34 PM PDT by blam
Enormous new dam fails in Brazil
10 July 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition.
GIANT cracks have opened in one of the world's tallest dams, just months after completion. The cracks appeared after a tunnel collapsed on 20 June beneath the 200-metre-high Campos Novos dam in southern Brazil, and the reservoir rapidly emptied. At one point, 4000 cubic metres of water (more than enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool) were rushing downstream every second towards a second dam on the river Canoas.
"If this had happened during the rainy season, and the two reservoirs had been full, water would likely have poured over the lower dam and it might have been destroyed. That would have been a major disaster, with perhaps hundreds killed," says Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network, a California-based group that campaigns against large dams. Between them, the two dams can hold more than 2 cubic kilometres of water.
The dam's owner, Enercan, a consortium of Brazilian power companies, has revealed little about the accident. It is reported to have been trying to patch holes in a leaking tunnel since October, before the second tunnel failed catastrophically last month.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beaverscoulddobetter; brazil; bushsfault; crackkills; dam; ducttapeterrorists; energy; enormous; environment; fails; hahaha; hooverwouldbeproud; isthatacrack; latinamerica; new; ps; thatsadoover; water
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To: garjog; alancarp
"Dang, how do you fix THAT?" Super glue?Import some beavers...
To: calcowgirl
The film opens with voice-overs of the main characters discussing the "vanishing wilderness" and the corruption of modern civilization, while the credits play over views of the flooding of one of the last untamed stretches of land, and the imminent wiping out of the entire Cahulawassee River and the small town of Aintry.
The Background of the movie was about a Dam built in Georgia. Above is part of a review. I only saw the TV version and don't think I missed any thing I wanted to see.
To: BigBobber
This is a concrete-faced rock fill dam. It is considered to be the safest kind of dam because even if the concrete liner cracks and leaks, the rocks supporting the liner will not wash away. That's what appears to have happened in this case. That's the conclusion I came to. The dam structure, that massive pile of rock underneath the concrete skin, did not 'fail'. I'm supposing that the cracks in the concrete could have resulted from the sudden release of stress when the water emptied out of the reservoir.
103
posted on
07/10/2006 10:28:26 PM PDT
by
elli1
To: ThomasThomas
The dam figures in the plot when they discuss what to do with the bodies and make shallow rock graves for them, on the premise that they will be covered by the reservoir before they can be discovered. Then the last scene in the film, I believe, is Jon Voight waking from a nightmare where a hand comes up out of the water.
104
posted on
07/10/2006 10:33:54 PM PDT
by
dr_lew
To: tarheelswamprat
Import some beavers."
Can't do that. It would violate environmental laws against introducing non-native species. Better to let the dam break up so native fish and snails can live in peace with out human interference.
105
posted on
07/10/2006 10:37:14 PM PDT
by
garjog
To: ga medic
106
posted on
07/10/2006 10:44:09 PM PDT
by
BruceysMom
(I'm hot & not in a good way: menopause ain't for sissies)
To: ga medic
"I put that we read The Little Boy and the Dyke"
Just trying to straighten her out were you?
To: KS Flyover
Looks like they start over....poor engineering or corruption in the building contractor.
To: martin_fierro
I knew some guys who worked on building dams down there. I wonder if this is why I can't find them now. Yikes!
109
posted on
07/11/2006 2:01:07 AM PDT
by
Caipirabob
(Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
To: KS Flyover
Here's a couple of larger photos of the dam: That's probably the safest vantage point at this stage of the game.
110
posted on
07/11/2006 2:05:18 AM PDT
by
csvset
("It was like the hand of G_d slapping down and smashing everything." ~ JDAM strikes Taliban)
111
posted on
07/11/2006 2:14:38 AM PDT
by
KneelBeforeZod
(I have five dollars for each of you)
To: Thinkin' Gal; alancarp; martin_fierro; dighton; BlueLancer; mhking
"Blah, blah, blah." says Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network, a California-based group that campaigns against large dams.,P>House slogan: Damn Dams!
112
posted on
07/11/2006 2:32:52 AM PDT
by
aculeus
To: ga medic
ROTFLMAO!!!!
You aren't from my state, MA are you??????
113
posted on
07/11/2006 3:10:31 AM PDT
by
rlmorel
(John Murtha: Out of touch, Out of His Mind. Lets make him Out of Congress! DIANA IREY FOR CONGRESS!)
To: Caipirabob
I wonder if this is why I can't find them now. Nah, they're just repressed. < |:)~
To: Howlin
Look more closly - you are seeing the resevoir side (thankfully).
115
posted on
07/11/2006 4:58:18 AM PDT
by
70times7
(An open mind is a cesspool of thought)
To: ThomasThomas
Wasn't the movie " Deliverance " about a river being damed. Any of these rivernetwork guys in that movie?I think the movie that applies here is "A River Runs Through It".
116
posted on
07/11/2006 5:03:03 AM PDT
by
70times7
(An open mind is a cesspool of thought)
To: SierraWasp
117
posted on
07/11/2006 5:20:02 AM PDT
by
stocksthatgoup
(http://www.busateripens.com)
To: KneelBeforeZod
1976 failure of the 305' Teton Dam on the Snake River in southern Idaho.
118
posted on
07/11/2006 5:50:37 AM PDT
by
elli1
To: Richard Kimball
Why did that old song, "Look for the Union label" pop into my mind when I read this? Because your grandmother sang it to you when you were a baby (years before it was actually written)...
119
posted on
07/11/2006 6:31:47 AM PDT
by
BlueMondaySkipper
(The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it. - George Orwell)
To: blam
As a young teenager I spent 6 wks. in Brazil circa 1958.
While visiting Recife in N. Brazil, I saw a collapsed high rise apt. building. Not uncommon.
Apparently they liked to skimp on the rebar with disastrous results.
Maybe they use the same building techniques today.
120
posted on
07/11/2006 6:33:08 AM PDT
by
Vinnie
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