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There are many hydropower stations in the world, and each one is unique in its own way. But there is a special place in the buildings that are imagining the courage of engineering thought. Among them are the " luncheon " of Soviet hydropower, an unrealized project of the Cambaratine GEC-1 on the Naren River, which we will talk about today.
Creation of the Cambaratine GEC-1

The Narin River is the largest river in Kirgizia; it is the beginning of the Syrdarje in the territory of Uzbekistan. The river flows in the mountains, has a fall of more than 3 kilometres and a large hydropotential of 36, 5 billion kWh per year. At the Soviet time, the Narinskkad, Toktogoul, Kurpsaya, Takushimara, Shamaldasai, Ukktorian GEC, was built on this river, providing for Kirgizia ' s electricity needs and, in a multi-sea period, allowing for export earnings. But the pearl cascade was supposed to be the top stage of the cascade - the Cambaratin GEC-1 with a capacity of 1,900 MW and an average annual production of 5,088 billion kWh.
Kurpsai GEC. Photo from here.

The most remarkable constructive element of the Cambaratine GEC-1 is its dam. It was planned to be created by a large-scale explosion, destroying the mountains of the left-shore slope. Large-scale silients are softly said; 247,000 tons of ammonia and diesel mixture were planned to explode. I recall that the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a power of about 20 kilotons, 12 times less. Total planned to detonate 259 million m3 of which 112 million m3 was to be fixed at a dam of 275 m, the third highest in the USSR following the construction of Rogun and Nurek, and one of the highest in the world. The Kambaratin explosion was to be the most powerful industrial explosion in history, far ahead of previous conventional and peaceful nuclear explosions.