Sigh. Let's destroy a vast ecosystem and fundamentally change the atmosphere of a hugely important agricultural region. Let's not solve one problem by creating 10.
Look, the Three Gorges damn is much larger than this and much much more destructive. Entire cities disappeared.
But it also generates 22 GW of power.That’s an insane amount of coal that wasn’t burned.
So choose: burn coal. Burn U235. Flood valleys. Sashimi the birds. Carpet the desert with glass. Or massively decrease your standard of living.
For the record, I’m actually in favor of the last option.
The mountains would trap the moisture locally. So even three, four mountains over the desert would be untouched.
As to Egypt, it would be restoring the Sahara to the lush green area much of it used to be before humans came in.