navigable and flows at an elevation of above sea level, whereas the Lena flows at an elevation of . In the beginning of 20th century the canal project was considered inexpedient due to its complexity and high cost. Planned damming Plans to dam the river existed since the early Soviet period. These plans were the subject of criticism by various ecologists. Construction of the dams also became impossible after disintegration of Soviet Union due to economic reasons. In 2005–10 the interest to this project and the discussion of it revived to some extent. According news media the construction of the Turukhanskaya hydroelectric powerplant would begin as soon as in 2010. Since the precise date is unknown, a more likely start-up is between 2010 and 2020. After completion of this project the Lower Tunguska River will be dammed, flooding about of forest and tundra (roughly the size of Lebanon or the islands of Hawaii), some of which contains buried nuclear waste, and displacing the indigenous Evenk population. The cost of the plant is estimated at $13 billion dollars, which includes costs of electric power lines. The plant will be built and operated by RusHydro in the Krasnoyarsk region, and the electricity will be channeled to European Russia via a system of power lines. Notable facts The colonisation history of Western Siberia by Russians since 17th and 18th centuries was reflected in various names for the river at different times. At some periods it was called Troitskaya Tunguska (), Monastyrskaya Tunguska () and Mangaseyan Tunguska (, see Mangaseya). In literature, the river Nizhnyaya Tunguska is described in the novel Gloomy River by Vyacheslav Shishkov. This writer of the first half of the 20th century visited the river during an expedition in 1911; the name Gloomy River was taken from a Siberian song. Existing sources indicate that the annual average discharge of water at mouth of its tributary Severnaya is equal to . As this river joins Lower Tunguska downstream of hydrological station "Bolshoy Porog" it means that the known average discharge at mouth of Lower Tunguska is significantly underestimated. It must be in the range of . References Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast Rivers of Krasnoyarsk Krai