zoom_in Click to enlarge

Camp Century

▲ ▼

description Camp Century Overview

Camp Century was a United States Army installation constructed within the Greenland ice sheet in 1959 and operated during the Cold War. Presented publicly as a research station, it used tunnels cut into compacted snow and was powered by a portable nuclear reactor. The site also tested construction methods relevant to Project Iceworm, a proposed network for deploying nuclear missiles beneath the ice, although that larger project was never built.

help Camp Century FAQ

Where was Camp Century located?

Camp Century was a top-secret United States military research facility built entirely underneath the Greenland ice sheet. It was constructed in 1959 using a network of tunnels carved directly into the ice.

What was the real purpose of Camp Century?

While publicly presented as a scientific research station, Camp Century served as an early testbed for deploying nuclear missiles in the Arctic. It was part of a classified project known as Project Iceworm, designed to store mobile ICBMs.

Why was Camp Century abandoned?

The project was abandoned because the Greenland ice sheet proved to be too dynamic, constantly shifting and crushing the ice tunnels that housed the facility. By 1967, the U.S. military determined that maintaining Camp Century was no longer viable.

Is Camp Century still intact today?

The physical structures of Camp Century were eventually crushed and buried by the ice sheet, but the site recently gained attention due to climate change. Melting ice threatens to eventually expose the abandoned facility and its accumulated waste.

swap_horiz

Looking for Camp Century alternatives? Compare top competitors ranked & scored

arrow_forward