“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 312

Ever hear of Camp Century?

The US military had a clever idea back in the 1950s: let’s build missile launch sites under the ice in Greenland. That project was called “Project Iceworm” and was secret: as a cover story, and to test the feasibility of this idea, Camp Century was built.

Powered by a nuclear reactor, the camp operated from 1959 until 1967. The base consisted of 21 tunnels with a total length of 9,800 feet (3.0 km).

You can imagine this was a massive logistical operation. Especially when you consider that everything had to be hauled across the ice from Thule AFB, 150 miles away.

“Camp Century, The City Under The Ice”.

The snow trimming required to maintain the trenches, and sewage disposal were both ongoing problems. The sewage sump was 150 feet from the nearest building and initially 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 completely eliminate the condition. In 1962 core samples were taken in the areas near the sump and found that liquid wastes had horizontally permeated up to 170 feet (52 meters). Thus odor from the sump affected near by trenches with sleeping quarters and also accelerated trench deformation.