Kárahnjúkar Dam an international milestone project
At the 1st International Symposium on Rockfill Dams, held in Chengdu, China, 18-20 October 2009, the Karahnjukar dam received an award as an International Rockfill Dam Milestone Project. Björn Stefansson of Landsvirkjun Power accepted the award on behalf of Landsvirkjun, the owner of the Karahnjukar Dam, and gave a short presentation on the dam design, construction and behavior to 450 conference guests from about 30 countries.
This is the first time that such rockfill dam milestone project awards have been given. A total of thirteen dams were recognised in this way at the symposium, including five concrete face rockfill dams (CFRD) as the Kárahnjúkar Dam,. The awarded dams were selected by experts in the field from various countries, but the final decision was in the hands of the organisers of the conference, the Chinese and Brazilian commissions on large dams (CHINCOLD and CBDB), supported by the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD).
The photograph shows Björn Stefánsson accepting the award along with Gianni Porta from Impregilo. Also in the photograph are the ICOLD vice-president for Africa and a CHINCOLD representative. 
The design and construction of the 198 m high basalt fill Kárahnjúkar Dam is considered to have been quite successful, especially as three high CFRDs constructed of basalt fill during 1998–2004 suffered face slab damage during the initial filling of their reservoirs. Kárahnjúkar Dam differs mainly in two important respects from the three dams which were damaged, namely, in an even granular distribution and good compaction of the fill material, which reduces settlement and in the flexible joint fill material placed between slab elements.
Kárahnjúkar Dam is considered a milestone project because, among other things, some of its design features have been implemented in other dams which are now under construction, including the Bakun Dam in Malaysia, which is now in the final stage of construction, and the Nam Ngum 2 Dam (182 metres high) in Laos, whose construction is also well advanced. Additionally, the design of various high dams now in the preparation stages in China and elsewhere takes into account the experience at the Kárahnjúkar dam.
The Kárahnjúkar Dam is one of the highest dams of its kind in the world, and the highest in Europe. Higher dams of the same type include:
- Campos Novos in Brazil, 202 metres high, construction completed in 2004.
- Shuibuya in China, 233 metres high, the highest in the world, construction completed in 2007.
- Jiangpinghe in China, 221 m high.
- Bakun in Malaysia, 205 metres high, construction completed, reservoir still to be filled.
- La Yesca in Mexico, 205 metres high, under construction.
