NationStates | Dispatch | Camp Century, Camp Recovery and Camp Evans nuclear powered ice bunkers

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by The Penguinite Kleptocracy of Volaworand. 6 years 156 days ago. 66 reads.

Camp Century, Camp Recovery and Camp Evans nuclear powered ice bunkers

Ice Bunker Camps

Volaworand Defence Forces operate Camp Century, Camp Recovery and Camp Evans which are nuclear powered ice bunkers eight to ten meters under the icy surface of Volaworand. They were constructed in 2017, largely with the labour of Midand nationals interned during the South Pacific Cold War. These climatically hostile environments are located under glacial ice in three locations in the interior of the nation and serve as operational command centers for the Polar Advance Warning System and emergency bunkers in the event of attack. The exact locations of the sites are classified. A fourth site has been approved.

Maximum use was made of snow and ice as building materials, utilizing a "cut-and-cover" trenching technique. Long ice trenches were created by “Peter Plows”, which are giant rotary snow milling machines. The machine's two operators can move up to 912 metric tonnes of snow and ice per hour. The longest of the twenty-one trenches is known as “Main Street.” It is over 335m long and 8m wide and 8.5m high. The trenches were covered with arched corrugated steel roofs which were then reburied.

Prefabricated work buildings and living quarters are erected in the resulting snow tunnels. Each twenty-four meter long electrically heated barrack contains a common area and up to five rooms. One meter of airspace is maintained around each building to minimize melting. To further reduce heat build-up, 35cm diameter "air wells" are dug 12m down into the tunnel floors to introduce cooler air. Nearly constant trimming of the tunnel walls and roofs is necessary to combat snow deformation.

In addition to support and command functions for the PAWS sites, the camps operate year round arctic research centers under the ice. All three sites maintain an above ice PAWS station and airstrip. Facilities beneath the ice include:

The camps are staffed year round, with population around 200 at any given time, although each camp can house up to 500 in the event of an emergency.

The water supply was produced by pumping steam deep down into an ice well. These wells can produces up to 37850 liters of fresh water daily. This fresh water supply had fallen on Volaworand as snow thousand years before.

Deep ice core drilling is a major focus. From a tunnel at Camp Century, the bottom of the Ice Sheet was reached. Two initial attempts failed due to shifting ice breaking the drills. The successful 2287 meters core drilling was accomplished by utilizing a thermal drill to 535 meters followed by an electromechanical drill. Continuous ice cores representing over 100,000 years of climatic history are sent to Volaworand Antarctic College for study. Much has been learned from studying the ice geology. The data has been cited often in studies of global warming and as well as research regarding past Earth strikes by meteoroids and comets.

Other projects focus on arctic meteorological studies and the density, hardness, strength, and permeability of ice. These camps demonstrate how troops can live and fight under difficult polar conditions. With the advent of long-range bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, it was inevitable that military attention would be drawn to remote but strategic regions. The camps may also be a pilot project for a network of proposed rocket sites under the ice sheet, code named "Project Iceworm." Since the South Pacific Cold War, the military is working on plans to design "Iceman" rockets in a massive network of tunnels dug into the icecap. No plans have yet been approved.

The camps are designed to have a useful life of at least ten years with proper maintenance. Maintaining the tunnels require time-consuming and laborious trimming and removal of more than 108 tonnes of snow and ice each month. The Antarctic icecap, in slow constant motion, would completely destroy all the tunnels without maintenance.

Nuclear Power Program

The Volaworand Defence Forces Nuclear Power Program, based at Orcadas Base, was created to develop small nuclear power reactors for use at remote sites and are similar on Naval reactor designs. The military has built eight small scale reactors, and six of the eight are portable units. The three reactors at the camps was the first of the portable reactors deployed in Volaworand. The military's Nuclear Power Program research program is focusing on adapting this technology to submarines.

The portable nuclear power plant at Camp Century is designated PM-2A. Its designation indicates: “P” for Portable; “M” for Medium Power; “2” for the sequence number; and the letter “A” indicates field installation. The PM-2A is rated two megawatts for electrical power and also supplies steam to operate the water well. Four hundred tons of pipes, machinery, and components were then carefully transported over the ice in twenty-seven packages. Special care was taken not to damage the parts, since intensely cold metal can become dangerously brittle. As a credit to superb packaging, a ceramic top to a lab cabinet was the only item damaged during transport.

In thirty-seven days, the team assembled the prefabricated reactor. Just nine hours after fuel elements containing forty-three pounds of enriched Uranium-235 were inserted into the reactor, electricity was produced. It was soon discovered that additional shielding would be necessary. This shielding was accomplished by adding a layer of two inch thick lead bricks to the primary shield tank. Except for downtime for routine maintenance and repairs, the reactor operates year-round. A conventional diesel powered plant would consume over 1,287,040 liters of fuel over the same period to produce the same output, making nuclear power a much more practical choice. While the power plant is designed to provide 1560 kilowatts of power, normal power needs peak around 500 kilowatts. Controversially, during a reactors operational life, a total of up to 175,000 liters of radioactive liquid waste can be discharged under the icecap, which is allowed under the military's exemption from environmental protection laws.