[Scenario Seed/Location] The Nuclear Ice City
Nov 7, 2014 12:59:29 GMT
Marnal and Hedgewick like this
Post by Catsmate on Nov 7, 2014 12:59:29 GMT
In June of 1959 the US Army's Corps of Engineers began one of the odder
projects of the Cold War. A truly massive undertaking, they started
construction of a small town under the ice of Greenland.
By October of 1960 the construction project was complete and
installation of the nuclear reactor needed to power the remote base began. In March
1961 the base, now formally called Camp Century, was operational; 1,200km from
the North Pole, and with an average day on the ice being -23°C and winds
gusting to 200km/h, a small town existed 12m under the Greenland Ice Sheet,
powered by the PM-2A nuclear reactor.
totalling more than 3,000m of tunnels in all, twelve metres under the surface,
reinforced with arched corrugated steel roofs. 'Main street' was 335m long. Facilities included a
library, workshops and laboratories, a small hospital with surgical
facilities, a chapel and theatre and living space fore more than 200
people.
During it's operational life the site produced some of the first ice
cores, reaching the 1.35km to the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet in
1961. At the time the value of the cores wasn't realised, but later they
proved invaluable in studying the meteorological history of the Earth and the impact of human activity.
Of course the US Army had another reason, hidden behind the exploration
and science, for studying the ice arctic wastes of Greenland; Project
Iceworm. This was a proposal to build a network of mobile missile launch sites
under the Greenland ice sheet. These would house hundreds of 'Iceman'
missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5,500km, well into the
Soviet Union. The idea was abandoned.
While Camp Century was planned to remain operational for ten years it
was eventually abandoned in 1966 as the ice clearance (~4 tonnes per
day) efforts outweighed it's usefulness. By 1969 most of the tunnels had collapsed.
Gaming use.
So far all the details are completely historical. In the Whoniverse of course the base could have even more layers (both physical and political). Even without them it's a nuclear powered base under the ice, hundreds of kilometres from anywhere (and assistance), with kilometres of tunnels and dead-in-minutes conditions outside; pretty much the classic 'Base Under Siege' venue.
Suggestions.
1. The PCs could be called in as experts to assist with an unusual find, from a Martian spaceship found entombed in the ice (The Ice Warrior and of course The Thing) to strange seed pods (Seeds of Doom).
2. Perhaps the base was actually intended to cover the excavation of something (spaceship, alien city et cetera) discovered previously. Hence the interest in drilling deep into the ice. At the Mountains of Madness is a good starting point.
3. Something arrives and endangers the base; this could be a crashed aircraft (carrying anything from humans enhanced with recovered Cybertechnology and suffering mental problems to Triffid seeds), an alien spacecraft, or a human spacecraft, the capsule off course after an encounter with something in orbit (Ice Station Zebra is a good reference).
4. Contact has been lost with Camp Century and the PCs are either part of the investigation/rescue party or arrive and encounter it. Cue misunderstandings and suspicion. And of course what did happen to the base? Also reminiscent of Ice Station Zebra.
5. The PCs could arrive accidentally and stumble over the base (or a PC might be interested in visiting it) and then get involved something weird.
6. The construction of the base endangers someone's plot and must be neutralised in a manner that persuades the puny humans to abandon the project. Perhaps there's a scout party of Cybermen based nearby.
Complications.
While it's completely ahistorical (and the wrong icecap) you should feel free to add the Antarctic Snow Cruiser to the scenario, preferably (given the period) an 'improved' nuclear powered version. After all what adventure can't be enhanced with a chase (or desperate mission) over the ice in a giant nuclear -powered vehicle?
Historically the reactor was quite reliable but problems with the turbo-generator led to power outages, requiring use of the backup diesel generators.
Another historical problem was the separation of the camp's sewage sump from the living quarters. Intended to be 300m lack of time during the construction caused this to be reduced to 50m. This led initially to a rather unpleasant odour problem which was reduced by enhanced ventilation.
References:
US Army documentary.
US Army report on the camp.
More information and pictures.
Wiki on the Antarctic Snow Cruiser
Snow Cruiser 1
Snow Cruiser 2
projects of the Cold War. A truly massive undertaking, they started
construction of a small town under the ice of Greenland.
More than 5,000 tonnes of supplies to construct the base were ferried from the US airbase at Thule 250km away.- It was derived from experience and techniques developed for Camp Fistclench, another remote arctic base constructed in Greenland, though Camp Century was far larger.
By October of 1960 the construction project was complete and
installation of the nuclear reactor needed to power the remote base began. In March
1961 the base, now formally called Camp Century, was operational; 1,200km from
the North Pole, and with an average day on the ice being -23°C and winds
gusting to 200km/h, a small town existed 12m under the Greenland Ice Sheet,
powered by the PM-2A nuclear reactor.
- The PM-2A reactor weighed 400 tonnes, took 73 days to assemble
onsite and cost 5.6 million dollars, about 70% of the cost of the base.
It used highly enriched Uranium as fuel, about 20kg. - That, by the way, is quite sufficient to construct a simple fission bomb, given the time, skills and equipment...
- The reactor produced about 2MW of electrical power and 8MW of heat; the latter was used to produce potable water by melting of ice.
totalling more than 3,000m of tunnels in all, twelve metres under the surface,
reinforced with arched corrugated steel roofs. 'Main street' was 335m long. Facilities included a
library, workshops and laboratories, a small hospital with surgical
facilities, a chapel and theatre and living space fore more than 200
people.
During it's operational life the site produced some of the first ice
cores, reaching the 1.35km to the bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet in
1961. At the time the value of the cores wasn't realised, but later they
proved invaluable in studying the meteorological history of the Earth and the impact of human activity.
Of course the US Army had another reason, hidden behind the exploration
and science, for studying the ice arctic wastes of Greenland; Project
Iceworm. This was a proposal to build a network of mobile missile launch sites
under the Greenland ice sheet. These would house hundreds of 'Iceman'
missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5,500km, well into the
Soviet Union. The idea was abandoned.
- This was part of the ongoing turf war between the three US armed services over their parts in the control of nuclear weapons.
While Camp Century was planned to remain operational for ten years it
was eventually abandoned in 1966 as the ice clearance (~4 tonnes per
day) efforts outweighed it's usefulness. By 1969 most of the tunnels had collapsed.
Gaming use.
So far all the details are completely historical. In the Whoniverse of course the base could have even more layers (both physical and political). Even without them it's a nuclear powered base under the ice, hundreds of kilometres from anywhere (and assistance), with kilometres of tunnels and dead-in-minutes conditions outside; pretty much the classic 'Base Under Siege' venue.
Suggestions.
1. The PCs could be called in as experts to assist with an unusual find, from a Martian spaceship found entombed in the ice (The Ice Warrior and of course The Thing) to strange seed pods (Seeds of Doom).
2. Perhaps the base was actually intended to cover the excavation of something (spaceship, alien city et cetera) discovered previously. Hence the interest in drilling deep into the ice. At the Mountains of Madness is a good starting point.
3. Something arrives and endangers the base; this could be a crashed aircraft (carrying anything from humans enhanced with recovered Cybertechnology and suffering mental problems to Triffid seeds), an alien spacecraft, or a human spacecraft, the capsule off course after an encounter with something in orbit (Ice Station Zebra is a good reference).
4. Contact has been lost with Camp Century and the PCs are either part of the investigation/rescue party or arrive and encounter it. Cue misunderstandings and suspicion. And of course what did happen to the base? Also reminiscent of Ice Station Zebra.
5. The PCs could arrive accidentally and stumble over the base (or a PC might be interested in visiting it) and then get involved something weird.
6. The construction of the base endangers someone's plot and must be neutralised in a manner that persuades the puny humans to abandon the project. Perhaps there's a scout party of Cybermen based nearby.
Complications.
While it's completely ahistorical (and the wrong icecap) you should feel free to add the Antarctic Snow Cruiser to the scenario, preferably (given the period) an 'improved' nuclear powered version. After all what adventure can't be enhanced with a chase (or desperate mission) over the ice in a giant nuclear -powered vehicle?
Historically the reactor was quite reliable but problems with the turbo-generator led to power outages, requiring use of the backup diesel generators.
Another historical problem was the separation of the camp's sewage sump from the living quarters. Intended to be 300m lack of time during the construction caused this to be reduced to 50m. This led initially to a rather unpleasant odour problem which was reduced by enhanced ventilation.
References:
US Army documentary.
US Army report on the camp.
More information and pictures.
Wiki on the Antarctic Snow Cruiser
Snow Cruiser 1
Snow Cruiser 2
