In June of 1959 the US Army's Corps of Engineers began one of the odder projects of the Cold War. A truly massive undertaking, they started construction of a small town under the ice of Greenland.
By October of 1960 the construction project was complete and installation of the nuclear reactor to power the base began. In March 1961 the base, now called Camp Century, was operational; 1,200km from the North Pole, and with an average day on the ice being -23°C and winds gusting to 200km/h, a small town existed under the Greenland Ice Sheet, powered by the PM-2A nuclear reactor.
Camp Century had 21 tunnels (map), totalling more than 3,000m of tunnels 12m under the surface, in all, reinforced with arched corrugated steel roofs. Facilities included a library, workshops and laboratories, a small hospital with surgical facilities, a chapel and theatre and living space fore more than 200 people. 'Main street' was 335m long.
During it's operational life the site produced some of the first ice cores, reaching the 1.35km to the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet in 1961. At the time the value of the cores wasn't realised, but later they proved invaluable in studying meteorological history of the Earth.
Of course the US Army had another reason, hidden behind the exploration and science, for studying the ice arctic wastes of Greenland; Project Iceworm: a proposal to build a network of mobile missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. These would house hundreds of 'Iceman' missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5,500km, well into the Soviet Union.
While Camp Century was planned to remain operational for ten years it was eventually abandoned in 1966 as the ice clearance (~4 tonnes per day) efforts outweighed it's usefulness.
References:
US Army documentary.
US Army report on the camp.
More information and pictures.
By October of 1960 the construction project was complete and installation of the nuclear reactor to power the base began. In March 1961 the base, now called Camp Century, was operational; 1,200km from the North Pole, and with an average day on the ice being -23°C and winds gusting to 200km/h, a small town existed under the Greenland Ice Sheet, powered by the PM-2A nuclear reactor.
- More than 5,000 tonnes of supplies to construct the base were ferried fom the US airbase at Thule 250km away.
- The PM-2A reactor weighed 400 tonnes, took 73 days to assemble onsite and cost 5.6 million dollars, about 70% of the cost of the base. It used highly enriched 235U as fuel, about 20kg.
Camp Century had 21 tunnels (map), totalling more than 3,000m of tunnels 12m under the surface, in all, reinforced with arched corrugated steel roofs. Facilities included a library, workshops and laboratories, a small hospital with surgical facilities, a chapel and theatre and living space fore more than 200 people. 'Main street' was 335m long.
During it's operational life the site produced some of the first ice cores, reaching the 1.35km to the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet in 1961. At the time the value of the cores wasn't realised, but later they proved invaluable in studying meteorological history of the Earth.
Of course the US Army had another reason, hidden behind the exploration and science, for studying the ice arctic wastes of Greenland; Project Iceworm: a proposal to build a network of mobile missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. These would house hundreds of 'Iceman' missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5,500km, well into the Soviet Union.
While Camp Century was planned to remain operational for ten years it was eventually abandoned in 1966 as the ice clearance (~4 tonnes per day) efforts outweighed it's usefulness.
References:
US Army documentary.
US Army report on the camp.
More information and pictures.
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