Roller-compacted concrete dams have steadily taken their place in the menu of possible dam types over the past four decades, with over 650 of them completed or under construction, according to HydroWorld magazine. China is far and away the leading RCC dam builder, with 165 as of 2012; of those, 40 are higher than 100 meters. Japan, the United States, Brazil and Spain are the other most prolific RCC dambuilders.
Roller-compacted concrete dams evolved in the 1970s to satisfy a particular need by dambuilders and owners. The percentage of dams built with concrete dropped steadily between 1950 and the late 1970s, from 38 percent to 16.5 percent. This decline occurred “in wide-valley sites, where concrete-gravity dams were being replaced by less costly earth-and-rock embankments,” according to the 1991 book “Roller-Compacted Concrete Dams” by Kenneth D. Hansen and William G. Reinhardt.