Science & Technology

Melting glaciers could expose Cold War base

By T.K. Randall
September 27, 2016 ·  9 comments

Officially, the base was little more than an Arctic research facility. Image Credit: US Army Constructed as part of a top-secret army program known as Project Iceworm, the base, which was situated in northwestern Greenland, was intended to be a launch site for nuclear weapons.

Consisting of a network of tunnels and facilities powered by a nuclear reactor, the true purpose of the base, which was known officially as 'Camp Century', was kept hidden even from the Danish government who were led to believe that it was simply a laboratory for Arctic research projects.

While the ultimate goal of the program was to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles capable of striking targets in the Soviet Union, the facility was abandoned only a few years later after it was discovered that the glacier was moving a lot more rapidly than anyone had previously predicted.The base has since lain dormant for almost 50 years.

Now though, following the rate at which the Greenland glaciers have been melting, scientists have warned that copious quantities of radioactive material and toxic waste left dumped at the site may eventually be released in to the atmosphere.

Whether anyone will attempt to clean up the site before this happens however remains to be seen.

"When the waste was deposited there nobody thought it would get out again," said William Colgan, an assistant professor at Canada's York University.

Source: Sputnik International | Comments (9)

Tags: Camp Century, Nuclear, Cold War