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NASA Radar Maps Camp Century, a Cold War Base Buried Under Greenland Ice

The rediscovery renews concern about long-buried radioactive waste that scientists say could surface as the ice thins.

Overview

  • A NASA Gulfstream III flight using advanced radar imaged distinct subsurface structures about 30 meters below the ice, according to scientists including Chad Green and Alex Gardner.
  • The features correspond to Camp Century, a U.S. installation built in 1959 and abandoned in 1967 that was known as a “city under the ice” with 21 tunnels spanning nearly three kilometers.
  • Camp Century was tied to the unrealized Project Iceworm plan for concealed missile sites, and no missiles were ever deployed at the location.
  • The facility ran on a portable nuclear reactor that was removed at closure, but reports say more than 170,000 liters of radioactive waste were left buried.
  • Experts caution that climate-driven melting and ice movement could eventually expose the site and its contaminants, with some projections pointing to risk late this century.