Jirau Dam

The Jirau Dam is a combination embankment dam with concrete sections for the power stations and spillway. The length of the entire dam is {{Convert|1100|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} while the embankment section is {{Convert|800|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The embankment dam is arched, {{Convert|63|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} tall and has an asphalt-core. Its structural volume is {{Convert|2000000|m3|ft3|0|abbr=on}} of which {{Convert|17000|m3|ft3|0|abbr=on}} is asphalt. The dam's spillway consists of 21 gates and has a maximum discharge of {{Convert|82000|m3/s|ft3/s|0|abbr=on}}. The run-of-the-river dam's power station contain 50 x 75 MW bulb turbines for a total installed capacity of 3,750 MW. The reservoir created by the dam has a surface area of {{Convert|258|km2|mi2|0|abbr=on}} of which {{Convert|135|km2|mi2|0|abbr=on}} is the original riverbed.{{cite web|title=Jirau Project|url=http://www.furnas.com.br/arqtrab/ddppg/revistaonline/linhadireta/rf329_pmadei.pdf|publisher=Eletrobras Furnas|accessdate=2 April 2011|language=Portuguese}}{{cite web|title=Jirau dam, Brasil |url=http://www.asphaltcoredams.com/projects/asphalt-core-dams-projects/article67923.ece |publisher=Veidekke |accessdate=2 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904132818/http://www.asphaltcoredams.com/projects/asphalt-core-dams-projects/article67923.ece |archivedate= 4 September 2011 }}{{cite web|title=Jirau dam, responding to Brazil's growing energy needs|url=http://www.gdfsuez.com/en/activities/our-energies/hydraulic-energy/the-future-with-hydraulic-energy/|publisher=GDF Suez|accessdate=2 April 2011}} Bulb turbines are a variation of the Kaplan turbine, with the main differences being that bulb turbines are installed horizontally and are generally considered to be slightly more efficient. The power plant is constructed by Energias Sustentáveis do Brasil and Brazilian company Camargo Correa SA.

Brazilian law requires water impoundments to undergo a very thorough approval process to ensure that each project meets environmental, social, political, and safety criteria. However, critics of the Jirau and Santo Antonio dam claim that many legal criteria were rubber-stamped before all questions from impacted groups had been addressed.{{cite web|title=Environmental lawsuits filed against Madeira dam projects|url=http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11309.aspx|publisher=Bank Information Center|accessdate=2 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928084313/http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11309.aspx|archive-date=28 September 2011|url-status=dead}} The dam's social impacts received the majority of substantive criticism (see below). However, environmental groups noted that the fast track approval for the Madeira dams sets a dangerous precedent. Brazilian law allows for expedited licensing for eco-friendly projects described by the Worldwatch institute as "kindler, gentler dams with smaller reservoirs, designed to lessen social and environmental impacts." The Worldwatch Institute insists that no project should "fast-track the licensing of new dams in Amazonia and allow projects to circumvent Brazil's tough environmental laws".{{cite journal |year= 2010|title= Greenwashing Hydropower|journal= World Watch|volume= 23|issue= 1|pages= 8–18|publisher= Worldwatch Institute }}

The most frequent objection is that the dam builders failed to adequately consult with indigenous peoples, as required by law. The Brazilian government indigenous protection foundation FUNAI predicts that there may be un-contacted indigenous populations in the region that will be affected by the Madeira complex. Most of the affected populations are nearest to the Jirau dam.{{cite web|title=Amazon mega-dams endanger uncontacted Indians|url=http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5941|publisher=Survival: the Movement for Tribal Peoples|accessdate=7 July 2011}} The threat to uncontacted Indians has motivated both internal and external criticism of ESBR, the contractor responsible for building the Jirau dam. A coalition of non-governmental organizations called for dam construction to be halted, and questions were raised during annual meeting of GDF Suez. After more than 10 years in operation, no one single Indian tribe was found in the region impacted by Jirau dam.

Moreover, federal prosecutors are suing ESBR (Energia Sustentável do Brasil), the company responsible for the dam, the Brazilian Institute of Environment (IBAMA) and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) for the non-accomplishment of some of the conditions previewed by the environmental license and for the indemnification for losses on the traditional fishers' revenues.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mabnacional.org.br/noticia/minist-rio-p-blico-pede-justi-federal-em-porto-velho-cancelamento-da-licen-opera-da-hidrel-0|title=Ministério Público pede à Justiça Federal em Porto Velho cancelamento da licença de operação da Hidrelétrica de Jirau {{!}} Água e energia não são mercadorias!|website=www.mabnacional.org.br|access-date=2016-11-07|archive-date=8 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108052024/http://www.mabnacional.org.br/noticia/minist-rio-p-blico-pede-justi-federal-em-porto-velho-cancelamento-da-licen-opera-da-hidrel-0|url-status=dead}}

Because both the Jirau and Santo Antonio dams are run-of-the-river projects, neither dam impounds a large reservoir. Both dams also feature significant environmental re-mediation efforts. As a consequence, there has not been strong environmental opposition to the implementation of the Madeira river complex.{{cite web|title=Brazil Engineers a Critic-Proof Dam|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704652104575494023487169344|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=2 April 2011|date=6 October 2010}} However, critics point out that if the fish ladders fail, "several valuable migratory fish species could suffer near-extinction as a result of the Madeira dams."

{{cite web|title=Madeira River Basin: Hydropower dams in the heart of the Amazon|url=http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/water/dams_initiative/examples/madeira_river_basin/|publisher=World Wildlife Fund Global|accessdate=7 July 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002182945/http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/water/dams_initiative/examples/madeira_river_basin/|archivedate=2 October 2012}} Jirau's environmentally friendly design earned the plant registration under the "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) program of the United Nations. Jirau is the largest renewable energy plant to earn the CDM, which is awarded to innovative projects that help to solve environmental problems such as climate change.{{cite web|title=Brazil's Jirau hydro project world's largest CDM-registered renewable plant|url=http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2013/06/brazil-s-jirau-hydro-project-world-s-largest-cdm-registered-rene.html|work=Hydro World|accessdate=30 December 2014|date=6 May 2013}}

Construction on the dam was halted on 18 March 2011 as workers rioted; setting fire to buses and destroying part of the worker housing. Wages and the treatment by security officials was attributed to the rioting. Additional security personal had to be sent to the site and construction was halted.{{cite web|title=Brazil Sends Forces to Jirau Dam After Riots|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704608504576208640384691826|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=2 April 2011|date=18 March 2011}} Workers went on strike at Jirau and Santo Antonio in April 2013 after a salary increase proposal was rejected.

Bolivia has been a landlocked country since it lost its coastline to Chile in the war of the pacific in 1884. Many Bolivians feel a deep and lasting bitterness due to this loss, and the Bolivian military continues to build and maintain an open ocean navy in Lake Titicaca, awaiting an eventual recovery of access to the sea. The Madeira river complex presents an opportunity for Bolivia because all of the hydroelectric dams would feature ship locks capable of raising and lowering oceangoing vessels. If the project is completed, "more than 4,000 km of waterways upstream from the dams in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru would become navigable."{{Cite report | title = Effects of Energy and Transportation Projects on Soybean Expansion in the Madeira River Basin | url = http://conservation-strategy.org/files/Madeira%20soy%20final_draft2_0.pdf | author = Maria del Carmen Vera-Diaz | year = 2009 | publisher = Conservation Strategy Fund | accessdate = 7 July 2011 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012042720/http://conservation-strategy.org/files/Madeira%20soy%20final_draft2_0.pdf | archivedate = 12 October 2007}}

Hence, if the project is completed, both Bolivian commercial vessels and the Bolivian navy would have access to the open ocean, and lucrative sea lanes, for the first time in 120 years.

The body of the Brazilian environmental activist Nilce de Souza Magalhães, also known as Nicinha, was found on 21 June 2016 in the hydro-power dam's lake of Jirau. Nicinha, leadership of MAB in Rondônia was missing since 7 January 2016. Her body was found only 400 meters away from where she used to live. Her body was found by the workers of the dam, her hands and feet were tied by a rope and tied to a rock.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mabnacional.org.br/en/noticia/nicinhas-body-found-after-five-months-missing|title=Nicinha's body is found after five months missing {{!}} Água e energia não são mercadorias!|website=www.mabnacional.org.br|access-date=2016-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107221836/http://www.mabnacional.org.br/en/noticia/nicinhas-body-found-after-five-months-missing|archive-date=7 November 2016|url-status=dead}}

She was known in the region for the struggle in defense of the affected populations, denouncing human rights violations committed by the consortium responsible for the Jirau power plant, called Energia Sustentável do Brasil (ESBR). Nicinha was daughter of rubber extractors who came from the Brazilian state of Acre to the city of Abuna (near Porto Velho) in Rondonia, where she lived almost fifty years and was evicted along with other fishers due to the construction of the dam. The encampment where they had lived had no access to clean water or electricity.

Nicinha made several complaints over the years, attending public hearings and events, including, pointed out the serious impacts of predatory fishing activity on the Madeira River. The complaints generated two civil investigations being conducted by the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the State Prosecutor's Office on the non-implementation of the Program of Support to Fishing Activity and another of criminal character, because of data manipulation in monitoring reports.

His killer, Edione Pessoa da Silva, who was in prison after confessing to murder Nicinha, escaped from the State Penitentiary "Edvan Mariano Rosendo", located in Porto Velho (RO) in April 2016.

{{stack|{{Portal|Brazil|Water|Renewable energy}}}}

• List of power stations in Brazil
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQ11fri3vs Jirau and Santo Antônio: tales of an Amazonian war (video documentary)]

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Category:Dams in Rondônia