乌东德水电站：一江碧水的华丽转身
古老的文明离不开河流的滋养，在奔腾的长江上游，金沙江上，汇聚着世界前列的水电富集带。如今，这条水电富集带孕育出一颗闪耀的明珠——乌东德水电站，是继三峡工程后的又一国之重器。
Ancient civilizations were dependent on nourishment from rivers. The world’s leading hydropower zones are on the surging upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Jinsha River. Now, Wudongde Hydropower Station, a shining pearl in this rich zone of hydropower, is another project of national importance after the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station.
中国是世界上水资源最丰富的国家之一，但水能资源分布并不均匀。乌东德水电站位于云南省昆明市禄劝县和四川省凉山州会东县交界，是中国“西电东送”的骨干电源，装机规模为中国第四、世界第七，年均发电量389.1亿千瓦时，可满足广州近5个月的用电需求。预计全面投产后，在中国的绿色能源和防洪建设上都将有显著突破。
China is one of the countries with the most abundant water resources in the world but the distribution of water energy resources is not uniform. Wudongde Hydropower Station is located at the junction of Luquan County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province and Huidong County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is the backbone power source of the project "Power Transmission from West to East" in China. The installed capacity is the fourth largest in China and the seventh in the world. The average annual power generation capacity is 38.91 billion kwh which can meet the power demand of Guangzhou in five months. It is expected that once it is in full swing, there will be a significant breakthrough in China’s green energy and flood control construction.
乌东德水电站的外型双曲拱坝十分抢眼。双曲拱坝一般在大型水电工程中很少采用，那为什么乌东德水电站要这样做呢？这里处于金沙江V型河谷，最适合设计拱坝，在最适合的地形上采用最轻巧的坝形，就像鸡蛋壳一样更好地发挥其拱梁作用，工程量最小，投资最少，可以获得最大的安全性和经济性的平衡。
The exterior double-curvature arch dam of Wudongde Hydropower Station is eye-catching. But double-curvature arch dam is rarely used in large hydropower projects. So why does Wudongde Hydropower Station have one? It is because of its topography. The station is located in the V-shaped valley of Jinsha River which is most suitable for the design of an arch dam. It is the lightest dam shape that has mechanical effect of arch beam like an eggshell. It can achieve maximum balance of safety and economy with minimum engineering and the least investment.
乌东德大坝需要承载巨大蓄水量，它还面临着一个来自坝体内部的巨大挑战——防裂缝。坝址所在为干热型河谷，环境温度高，内外温差又极易导致混凝土裂缝。为有效控温，工程采用了新型大坝混凝土进行通水冷却，完美实现了浇筑无缝大坝的目标，数千只监测仪器实时工作，及时为大坝降温。
The water storage capacity needs to meet the demand for a super large hydropower station and a huge challenge is how to keep the body of the dam from cracking. The dam site is located in a dry and hot valley with high temperature and temperature difference between its interior and exterior can lead to concrete cracks. In order to effectively control the temperature, the project uses a new type of concrete for water cooling. Thousands of monitoring instruments work in real-time to keep the dam cool.
世界领先的新材料、新技术，为乌东德工程建成新时代的大国重器提供了坚实的保障。
Advanced new materials and technologies provide a solid guarantee for the construction of Wudongde Project as a national great power in the new era.
都说中国是“基建狂魔”，为建成乌东德水电站，工程总设计长江委设计院进行了十七年的勘测设计研究。最终，乌东德水电站缔造了一个个世界之最：世界最薄的300米级特高拱坝、世界最高的地下电站厂房、世界最大的水轮发电机组……
It is said that China is an “infrastructure giant”. In order to build Wudongde Hydropower Station, the chief designer of the project — The Changjiang Institute of Survey Planning, Design and Research (CISPDR) — carried out 17 years of investigation and design research. Consequently, Wudongde Hydropower Station has created many new records --- the world’s thinnest 300-meter super-high arch dam, the world’s highest underground power plant and the world’s largest hydroelectric generating unit.
一江碧水的华丽转身，终化为源源不断的绿色电能惠及万家，不仅促进了长江经济带建设，更为中国的经济腾飞注入强心剂。
The dam’s prowess has tamed gushing waters into endless streams of green electric energy, benefiting millions of families. It has given a boost to the construction of the Yangtze River economic belt as well as given a leg-up to China’s economic takeoff.
