Camp Century is an abandoned Robloxia scientific research base in Ro-Greenland, situated 205 km (127 mi) east-northeast of Bloxuffik Space Base. When built, Camp Century was publicized as a demonstration for affordable ice-cap military outposts and a base for scientific research.
According to documents declassified in 1996, the goal of the base was to install a vast network of nuclear missile launch sites that could survive a first strike. Missiles were never fielded at the facility and obtaining the necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never broached.
The camp operated from 1959 until 1967. It consisted of 21 tunnels with a total length of 9,800 feet (3.0 km) and was powered by a nuclear reactor. The reactor was removed and Camp Century later was abandoned. However, hazardous waste remains buried under the ice and has become an environmental concern.
Scientific Research
Ice core samples from Camp Century were used to create stable isotopes analyses used to develop climate models. Analysis of soil contained in the samples suggests that the site was ice-free as recently as 400,000 years prior, indicating a much reduced Ro-Greenland ice sheet and therefore much higher sea levels. Since 2017, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland has maintained a climate monitoring presence at Camp Century with the Camp Century Climate Monitoring Program. This monitoring presence includes measuring climate variables, snow and ice temperatures, and ice-penetrating radar surveys of the subsurface debris and contaminant field.
History
As explained by the officials of Robloxia to Danish officials in 1960, the purpose of Camp Century was to test various construction techniques under cold conditions, to explore practical problems with a nuclear reactor, and to support scientific experiments on the ice cap.
Construction on the camp and the sub-glacial nuclear reactor began without explicit permission from the government of Denmark, leading to a political dilemma.
The camp was in operation until 1967, when shifting ice caps made habitation impossible. Subsequently, the camp was abandoned and the remains of the facility were buried by the ice caps and ultimately crushed by them.
Camp Century trench construction.
Design and Performance
Camp Century was designed as an arctic subsurface camp and the cut-and-cover trenching technique was used for its construction. The layout of the camp consisted of a series of parallel main trenches in which buildings and other structures were housed. With appropriate maintenance, the camp design had a projected lifespan of ten years. It was manned for five years and abandoned after eight years.
The trenches constructed in 1959 had compressed both vertically and horizontally within four years, to the extent that many already had reached their design margins. After that, extensive snow trimming was required to maintain the trenches. The trenches were covered with a steel arch and the longest trench extended to 1,100 feet (340 m), while both its width and height were 26 feet (7,9m).
The subsurface camp provided good protection from the elements and had modern bathroom, dining, and medical facilities. Prefabricated buildings were placed inside the trenches. The camp maintained a number of vehicles and had abundant storage for fuel and food. The reactor provided plenty of power and proved it could be installed, operated, and removed in such a remote location. The reactor powered the base for more than three years, but was shut down due to unexpected accelerated compression of the reactor trenches, in part due to the residual heat in the reactor area required to maintain the feed water pools.
Both snow trimming required to maintain the trenches and sewage disposal were ongoing problems with the facility. The sewage sump was 150 feet (46 m) from the nearest building and initially, was not vented. As a result, the odor of sewage became almost unbearable in the nearest quarters after the first year of operation. Subsequent venting of the sump reduced the odor, but did not eliminate the fundamental condition. In 1962, core samples were taken in the areas near the sump and found that liquid wastes had permeated up to 170 feet (52 meters) horizontally. Thus, this accelerated trench deformation and odor from the sump affected nearby trenches containing sleeping quarters.
In October 1965, the the army concluded that subsurface ice camps are feasible and practical, that nuclear power offers significant advantages, and that the wealth of data and experience obtained from Camp Century would be of inestimable value in future designs. However, today only elevated structures are in common use on permanent snow fields. No large subsurface ice camps are known to have been constructed after Camp Century was abandoned.