Steve Elonka began chronicling the exploits of Marmaduke Surfaceblow — a six-foot-four marine engineer with a steel brush mustache and a foghorn voice — in POWER in 1948, when he raised the wooden mast of the SS Asia Sun with the help of two cobras and a case of Sandpaper Gin. Marmy’s simple solutions to seemingly intractable plant problems remain timeless. This Classic Marmaduke story, published 50 years ago, takes place during the Cold War at an Air Force Base in northern Greenland, where under-ice tunnels were constructed to move nuclear rockets around the facility unobserved. The miniature nuclear reactor was operated for almost three years before it was shut down and returned to the U.S., ending the Army’s nuclear program. Greenland officially became a separate county within the Kingdom of Denmark in 1953, and home rule was introduced in 1979.
Marmaduke arrives at Greenland’s Camp Century, the city under ice. Source: POWER
Few people know that Greenland resembles an ice-filled bowl, rimmed by coastal ranges. The greatest known ice thickness is over two miles (11,190 feet), and its tremendous weight has depressed the ground surface to 1,200 feet below sea level. This gigantic ice cap covers 700,000 square miles and, if melted, would raise the level of the oceans by 20 ft.
On Greenland, and only 886 miles from the North Pole, is Camp Century, the city under ice. This camp, occupied by 100 to 200 men, was constructed 40 ft below the ice cap surface and has 21 tunnels, including a Main Street that is 1,100 ft long.
Camp Century was built by the Corps of Engineers and is operated by the U.S. Army Arctic Research Support Group. The camp is located 138 miles inland, which is slightly farther from Thule Airbase on Baffin Bay. Obviously, logistic support in such an environment is difficult, especially during the winter months. That’s why the Army decided a nuclear power plant would serve Camp Century’s needs especially well. For example, based on experience in the Antarctic, 60% of the cargo lift is fuel. So the fuel oil the Army buys for 12¢ a gallon ends up costing up to $6 a gallon by the time it’s in the storage tanks at our frozen bases. That’s pretty steep.
The answer was the PM-2A pre-packaged nuclear power plant to provide the needed electricity and steam from nuclear fuel instead of oil. The reactor would need less than 50 lb of uranium-235 every year, compared to over one-half million gallons of diesel fuel. The plant was constructed on skids, then loaded aboard the USNS Marine Fiddler for Thule, Greenland. There she was unloaded for the truck trip to the ice cap, where began the sled trip to Camp Century. Criticality was reached only 78 days after arrival at the site. This included tying the various skids together, checking out the systems, and getting the reactor core loaded. And there had been no field welding.
One unusual feature is the method of providing water for the camp. Steam from the nuclear plant supplies a steam jet, which descends slowly into the ice and melts a bell-shaped chamber. An attached pump sends up water as required. Over 10,000 gallons daily have been supplied thus.
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