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{{Short description|Top-secret Cold War United States Army program}}
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{{Location map+|Greenland|relief=1|caption=[[Greenland]]|width=250|places=
{{Location map~|Greenland|lat_deg=77|lat_min=10|lat_dir=N|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=61|lon_min=8|label=Camp Century|position=right}}
{{Location map~|Greenland|lat_deg=76|lat_min=31|lat_dir=N|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=68|lon_min=42|label=Thule|position=top}}
{{Location map~|Greenland|lat_deg=76|lat_min=10|lat_dir=N|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=55|lon_min=21|label=Camp Fistclench|position=bottom}}
}}
'''Project Iceworm''' was a top secret [[United States Army]] program of the [[Cold War]], which aimed to build a network of mobile [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear missile]] launch sites under the [[Greenland ice sheet]]. The goal was to install a vast network of nuclear missile launch sites that could survive a [[pre-emptive nuclear strike|first strike]]. This was according the [[Danish Institute for International Studies]] which obtained declassified documents in 1996.<ref>Weiss, Erik D. “Cold War Under the Ice: The Army’s Bid for a Long-Range Nuclear Role, 1959–1963.” ''Journal of Cold War Studies'', vol. 3, no. 3, 2001, pp. 31–58. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26925134 JSTOR website] Retrieved 12 Apr. 2025.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Petersen |first=Nikolaj |title=The Iceman That Never Came |journal=Scandinavian Journal of History |date=17 Dec 2007 |volume=33 |pages=75–98 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468750701449554 |publisher= Scandinavian Journal of History Volume 33, 2008 - Issue 1 |doi=10.1080/03468750701449554 |s2cid=142526881 | access-date=15 Aug 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The [[medium-range ballistic missile|missiles]], which could strike targets within the [[Soviet Union]], were never fielded and necessary consent from the [[Denmark|Danish]] Government to do so was never obtained.

To study the feasibility of working under the ice, a highly publicized "cover" project, known as [[Camp Century]], was launched in 1959.<ref>{{cite report|first=Elmer F.|last=Clark|url=http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD477706&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|title=Camp Century: Evolution of Concept and History of Design, Construction and Performance|work=Technical Report, [[United States Army Materiel Command]] [[Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory]]|date=October 1965|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125020712/http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD477706&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|archive-date=2011-01-25}}</ref> Unstable ice conditions within the ice sheet caused the project to be canceled in 1966.

==Political background==

[[File:PM2Anuclearpowerplant.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Camp Century, Greenland]]
[[File:Camp Century layout color.png|thumb|right|Camp Century layout in color]]

Details of the missile base project were secret for decades, but first came to light in January 1995 during an enquiry by the Danish Foreign Policy Institute (DUPI) into the history of the use and storage of nuclear weapons in [[Greenland]]. The enquiry was ordered by the [[Folketing|Parliament of Denmark]] following the release of previously classified information about the [[1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash]] that contradicted previous assertions by the Government of Denmark.<ref name="DUPI">{{cite journal |journal=Politica |volume=29 |issue=2 |page=215 |last=Amstrup |first=Niels |title=Grønland under den kolde krig. Dansk og Amerikansk sikkerhedspolitik 1945–1968 |trans-title=Greenland during the Cold War. Danish and American security policy 1945–1968 |language=da |date=1997-01-17 |doi=10.7146/politica.v29i2.68132 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Description==

To test the feasibility of construction techniques a project site called Camp Century was started by the United States military in 1959, located at an elevation of {{convert|6600|ft|m}} in Northwestern [[Greenland]], {{convert|150|mi|km}} from the American [[Thule Air Base]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-cronkite-visits-city-under-the-ice/|title=Cronkite visits "city under the ice" in 1961|last=Feldman|first=Cassi|date=31 January 2016|website=60 minutes overtime|publisher=CBSnews|access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0c9ykqe2Xs|title=Camp Century, Greenland, Project Iceworm: "City Under the Ice" R&D Progress Report 6|last=US Army|date=1963|website=Youtube|publisher=US Army}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref> The radar and air base at Thule had been active since 1951.

Camp Century was described at the time as a demonstration of affordable ice-cap military outposts. The secret Project Iceworm was to be a system of tunnels {{convert|4000|km|mi}} in length, used to deploy up to 600 nuclear missiles, that would be able to reach the Soviet Union in case of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]]. The missile locations would be under the cover of Greenland's ice sheet and were supposed to be periodically changed. While Project Iceworm was secret, plans for Camp Century were discussed with and approved by Denmark. The facility, including its nuclear power plant, was profiled in ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' magazine in 1960.

The "official purpose" of Camp Century, as explained by the [[United States Department of Defense]] to Danish officials in 1960, was to test various construction techniques under Arctic conditions, explore practical problems with a semi-mobile nuclear reactor, as well as supporting scientific experiments on the icecap.<ref>{{harvnb|Petersen|2008|pages=75–98}}. The official purpose and size and length of Camp Century tunnels given on p.78.</ref> A total of 21 trenches were cut and covered with arched roofs within which prefabricated buildings were erected.<ref>{{cite AV media |medium=Film |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZC5EMPZDFA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/nZC5EMPZDFA |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=M.F.5 9314 (Camp Century (1 of 4)) |author=United States Army | author-link=United States Army |via=[[YouTube]] |year=1961}}{{cbignore}}</ref> With a total length of {{convert|3000|m|mi}}, these tunnels also contained a hospital, a shop, a theater and a church. The total number of inhabitants was approximately 200. From 1960 until 1963, the electric supply was provided by the world's first mobile/portable [[nuclear reactor]], designated [[Army Nuclear Power Program|PM-2A]] and designed by [[American Locomotive Company|Alco]] for the U.S. Army.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ujx_pND9wg#t=1201 The U.S. Army's Top Secret Arctic City Under the Ice! "Camp Century" Restored Classified Film]</ref> Water was supplied by [[Rodriguez well|Rod wells]] melting glaciers, and tested for germs such as the [[Plague (disease)|plague]].{{cn|date=January 2023}}

Within three years after it was excavated, ice core samples taken by geologists working at Camp Century demonstrated that the glacier was moving much faster than anticipated and would destroy the tunnels and launch stations in about two years.{{cn|date=December 2022}} The facility was evacuated in 1965, and the nuclear generator removed. Project Iceworm was canceled, and Camp Century closed in 1966.

The project generated valuable scientific information and provided scientists with some of the first [[ice core]]s, still being used by [[Climatology|climatologists]] as of 2005.<ref>{{citation|last=Dansgaard |first=Willi |url=http://www.iceandclimate.nbi.ku.dk/publications/FrozenAnnals.pdf/ |title=Frozen Annals, Greenland Ice Cap Research |website=Icelandic Climate |publisher=Niels Bohr Institute |year=2005 |isbn=978-87-990078-0-6 |location=Copenhagen |pages=54–63 |format=PDF |access-date=2013-04-07}}</ref>

== Size of proposed missile complex ==
According to the documents published by Denmark in 1997, the U.S. Army's "Iceworm" missile network was outlined in a 1960 Army report titled "''Strategic Value of the Greenland Icecap''". If fully implemented, the project would cover an area of {{convert|52000|mi2|km2}}, roughly three times the size of Denmark. The launch complex floors would be {{convert|28|ft|m}} below the surface, with the missile launchers even deeper. Clusters of missile launch centers would be spaced {{convert|4|mi|km}} apart. New tunnels were to be dug every year, so that after five years there would be thousands of firing positions, among which the several hundred missiles could be rotated. The US Army intended to deploy a shortened, two-stage version of the U.S. Air Force's [[LGM-30 Minuteman|Minuteman missile]], a variant the Army proposed calling the '''''Iceman'''''.<ref>{{harvnb|Petersen|2008|page=80}}</ref>

== Sheet ice elasticity ==
Although the Greenland icecap appears, on its surface, to be hard and immobile, snow and ice are [[Viscoelasticity|viscoelastic]] materials, which slowly deform over time, depending on temperature and density. Despite its seeming stability, the icecap is in constant, slow movement, spreading outward from the center. This spreading movement, over a year, causes tunnels and trenches to narrow, as their walls deform and bulge, eventually leading to a collapse of the ceiling. By mid-1962 the ceiling of the reactor room within Camp Century had dropped and had to be lifted {{convert|5|ft|m}}. During a planned reactor shutdown for maintenance in late July 1963, the Army decided to operate Camp Century as a summer-only camp. It did not reactivate the [[Army Nuclear Power Program|PM-2A reactor]]. The camp resumed operations in 1964 using its standby diesel power plant, the portable reactor was removed that summer, and the camp was abandoned in 1966.<ref>{{harvnb|Petersen|2008|page=79}}</ref>

== Ecological impact ==
{{See also|Greenland ice sheet#The melting ice sheet|Global warming in the Arctic}}
When the camp was decommissioned in 1967, its infrastructure and waste were abandoned under the assumption they would be entombed forever by perpetual snowfall. A 2016 study found that the portion of the ice sheet covering Camp Century will start to melt by 2100, if current trends continue.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Colgan|first1=William|last2=Machguth|first2=Horst|last3=MacFerrin|first3=Mike|last4=Colgan|first4=Jeff D.|last5=van As|first5=Dirk|last6=MacGregor|first6=Joseph A.|date=2016|title=The abandoned ice sheet base at Camp Century, Greenland, in a warming climate|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|language=en|volume=43|issue=15|pages=8091–8096|doi=10.1002/2016GL069688|issn=1944-8007|bibcode=2016GeoRL..43.8091C|url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/126150/1/Colgan_GRL_2016.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref> When the ice melts, the camp's infrastructure, as well as remaining biological, chemical and [[radioactive waste]], will re-enter the environment and potentially disrupt nearby ecosystems. This includes 200,000 liters of diesel, [[Polychlorinated biphenyl|PCB]]s and radioactive waste.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2016/08/04/melting-ice-sheet-could-release-frozen-cold-war-era-waste|title=Melting ice sheet could release frozen Cold War-era waste|date=August 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808175730/http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2016/08/04/melting-ice-sheet-could-release-frozen-cold-war-era-waste|archive-date=August 8, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/05/488872411/melting-ice-in-greenland-could-expose-serious-pollutants-from-buried-army-base|title=Melting Ice In Greenland Could Expose Serious Pollutants From Buried Army Base|last=Christopher|first=Joyce|date=August 5, 2016|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=2016-08-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Henley|first1=Jon|title=Greenland's receding icecap to expose top-secret US nuclear project|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/27/receding-icecap-top-secret-us-nuclear-project-greenland-camp-century-project-iceworm|access-date=27 September 2016|work=The Guardian|date=27 September 2016|location=London}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Camp Century]]
*[[Camp Fistclench]]
*[[Camp TUTO]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|60em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal |title=Aukstajā karā uzvarēja ledus |trans-title=Ice won the Cold War |language=lv |journal=Ilustrētā zinātne [Science Illustrated] |issue=34 |date=September 2008 |page=85 |issn=1691-256X }}
*{{cite book
| last = Grant
| first = Shelagh
| title = Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America
| publisher = [[Douglas & McIntyre]]
| year = 2010
| isbn = 978-1-55365-418-6
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/polarimperativeh0000gran
}}
*{{cite journal |title=The Iceman That Never Came: 'Project Iceworm', the search for a NATO deterrent, and the Kingdom of Denmark, 1960–1962 |first=Nikolaj |last=Petersen |journal=Scandinavian Journal of History |volume=33 |issue=1 |date=March 2008 |doi=10.1080/03468750701449554 |s2cid=142526881 }}
*{{cite book
| last = Suid
| first = Lawrence H.
| title = The Army's Nuclear Power Program: Evolution of a Support Agency
| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group
| year = 1990
| isbn = 978-0-313-27226-4
}} Camp Century and its PM-2A reactor covered by Suid in "Chapter 5: The Nuclear Power in Full Bloom", pp. 57–80.
*{{cite journal |last=Weiss |first=Erik D. |title=Cold War Under the Ice: The Army's Bid for a Long-Range Nuclear Role, 1959–1963 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume= 3 |issue=3 |date=Fall 2001 |pages=31–58 |doi=10.1162/152039701750419501 |s2cid=57572588 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Schrader |first=Christopher |title=Sauerei unter dem Eis. Ex-Militärbasis könnte Umweltkatastrophe auslösen.|journal=Süddeutsche Zeitung |volume=2016 |issue=184 |date=2016-08-10 |pages=16 }} ([http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/kalter-krieg-gift-aus-dem-eis-1.3114060 online])

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Camp Century}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUVnYKIUeQU/ The Big Picture: Camp Century]
* [http://gombessa.tripod.com/scienceleadstheway/id9.html Camp Century, Greenland, Frank J. Leskovitz] (including good pictures and diagrams)
* [http://www.whoi.edu/beaufortgyre/history/history_dew.html U.S. Military Buildup of Thule], Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160609041707/http://thuleab.dk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=48 Camp Century], thuleab.dk
* [http://www.atomicinsights.com/nov95/le_Nov95.html Atomic Insights Nov 1995] Comments on army film.
* [http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=AD615282 Glaciological Studies in the Vicinity of Camp Century, Greenland]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DPQ15EgyTY Documentary film on YouTube]

{{Portal bar|1960s|Kingdom of Denmark|Earth sciences}}

{{Abandoned sites in Greenland}}

[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:Cold War fortifications]]
[[Category:Former installations of the United States Army]]
[[Category:Military in the Arctic]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons program of the United States]]
[[Category:1958 in military history]]
[[Category:Military installations of the United States in Greenland]]
[[Category:Glaciology]]

Project Iceworm - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.