Kurobe, Japan's highest dam, enhances tourism in addition to hydro generation

Kurobe dam is a dome-style arch structure, with a height of 186 m. It is located near the head- waters of the Kurobe river, one of Japan's fastest flowing waterways, in highlands 1300 m above sea level. In 1956 when the project began, Kurobe was the highest dam in the world; it is still the highest dam in Japan. The construction of more thermal plants was regarded as insufficient, and there was clearly a need for major hydro plants which could more easily respond to the peaks and troughs of the fluctuating demand for electricity. Such was the background for the plan to construct a major reservoir and a series of hydroelectric plants on the upper reaches of the Kurobe river. As regards geology, the foundation bedrock at the dam site mainly consists of granite. There are also some distributions of igneous rocks, such as quartz- porphyry, hybrid rock, porphyritic granodiorite, lamprophyre, and so on, in small ranges or in vein shapes. Numerous joints and shattered zones of varying sizes have developed in the bedrock.