So, the story behind a day trip to Rjukan, was actually a visit to the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum (Norsk Industriarbeidermuseum) located in Vemork power station.

Originally built to tame the power of the Rjukan waterfall the Vemork power plant, Rjukan I, it was completed in 1911 and it was considered the largest of its kind in the world.

In the early 1970ies, the old factory was replaced by the New Vemork power plant, located in the rock cavern just behind the old one.

In the late 1920ies, Norsk Hydro built a new ammonium nitrate plant at Rjukan and a hydrogen plant at Vemork.
The factory situated in front of the power plant, known for its production of heavy water, became the target of sabotage operations and bombing raids during the WWII.

At the beginning of the operation the Vemor power station had the capacity of 145 000 hp and the hall with turbines was 14 meters high with the surface of 2 200 square meters.

In 1928, when the hydrogen factory was built in front of the power station, the by- product of hydro production, heavy water, was produced in the basement. Around seven engineers, eight supervisors and 600 workers worked at the Vemork facility.

If you’re wondering what was the hustle with the heavy water, I’ll just say – the nuclear bomb.

In short, the Nazy Germany was working on a development of new (atom) weapons and just in time when the WW broke out the Vemork plant was the world’s sole producer of heavy water on a commercial scale. Didn’t take long for the Gerries to place an order for two tons of heavy water, way more than usual ordering amount so the Hydro assumed that had to do something with the war. They were right.

The usual production of heavy water around 1940 was 112 kilograms per year and by 1942 that amount increased to 1140 kilos. The Brits were also suspicious about such a big order and they soon discovered that Germans were using heavy water for the nuclear reactor construction that was just few stones away from making an atomic bomb.

Heavy water, like it says it’s 10% heavier than ordinary water with a boiling point of 1.4 degrees higher than normal water and the freezing point of +4C.

With war in sight, they knew something had to be done, so between 1940 and 1944 a series of sabotage actions by the Norwegian resistance movement and Allied bombing ensured the destruction of the plant and the loss of its heavy water.

Three operations with code-named Grouse, Freshman, and Gunnerside put out the plant out of production in early 1943.

The heavy water production in overall continued after the WWII until 1971 when the factory was closed. Few years after the Hydrogen factory was demolished leaving no visible trace above the ground.

Until 2014 and the project The hunt for the heavy water cellar – the hydrogen factory at Vemork whos aim was to discover the parts of the buried cellar and its history.

In 2017 the cellar was found intact and in good condition and proclaimed a protected heritage site.
The museum, located in the power plant above the ground, shows the industrial adventure that began in the early 1900s and about the dramatic events that took place in Rjukan during World War II.

We visited the museum late in May, and were definitely one of the few guests at the time. I’m not counting the group of people that were there for business purposes.

https://nia.no/en/vemork/#1512591377345-904f1dd9-02f8
Alone at the museum was quite relaxing as we could enjoy the exhibition without interruptions and sufficient noise because some exhibits have both video and audio expression.
The movie night with Kirk Douglas afterwards was a definite must, just like the TV series Kampen om tungtvannet that is still on my to-do-list. Winter is here, might start it right now 🙂

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280150/

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TEŠKA VODA

Dakle, pravi razlog izleta u Rjukan bio je zapravo posjet Norveškom industrijskom muzeju (Norsk Industriarbeidermuseum) smještenom u Vemork elektrani.

Originalno sagrađena s namjerom da ukroti Rjukan vodopad, elektrana Rjukan I u Vemorku, dovršena je 1911 te je, u to vrijeme, smatrana najvećom takve vrste na svijetu.

Ranih 1970ih, stara tvornica zamijenjena je Novom Vemork elektranom smještenom u pećini iza stare.
Kasnih 20ih godina, Norsk Hydro sagradio je novo amonij nitrat elektranu u Rjukanu te hidroelektranu u Vemorku.

Tvornica smještena ispred elektrane te poznata po proizvodnji teške vode postala je meta brojnih sabotaža i bombardiranja za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata.

Na početku rada elektrana Vemork imala je kapacitet od 145 000 hp, dok je hala s turbinama bila visoka 14 metara i zauzimala prostor od 2200 kvadratnih metara. Poprilično impresivno.

1928 kad je ispred elektrane sagrađena tvornica vodika, nusprodukt vodikove proizvodnje, teška voda, proizvodila se u podrumu. Oko sedam inženjera, osam nadzornika i 600 radnika radilo je u Vemorku tada.

Ako se pitate čemu frka oko teške vode, slušajte pažljivo,  reći ću ovo samo jednom: nuklearna bomba.
U kratko, Nacisti su radili na razvoju novog (atomskog) oružja, a taman u svitaj Drugog svjetskog rata Vemork je bio navjeći svjetski proizvođač teške vode na komercijalnoj razini. Nije trebalo dugo da Nacisti naruče dvije tone vode od Vemorka, što je bilo daleko puno od uobičajenih narudžbi, ali i proizvodnje. Tvornica je je obično proizvodila oko 112 kilograma teške vode, dok se ta brojka popela na 1140 kg do 1942. godine.

Britanci su namirišali da se nešto dešava i posumnjali da Nijemci koriste tešku vodu za izradu nuklearnog reaktora, što je samo korak od izgradnje atomske bombe.

Teška voda, kao što joj i samo ime kaže, 10% je teža od obične vode.

 

S točkom vrenja na 1.4 stupnja višoj od točke vrenja obične vode te točkom smrzavanja od +4 C čini se nemogućom za uzgoj i rast biljki, no idealna je za big bang bum bombu.

Rat je bio na vidiku, nešto se trebalo poduzeti, tako da su Saveznici, uz pomoć norveškog pokreta otpora, izveli niz napada na tvornicu u periodu između 1940. i 1944.

Tri operacije pod imenom Grouse, Freshman i Gunnerside onemogućile su daljnji ratni rad tvornice, no postratna proizvodnja teške vode nastavljena je do 1971 kad je tvornica konačno zatvorena, a tvornica vodika uništena bez ikakvog vidljivog traga.

Sve do 2014 i projekta Lov na podrum teške vode čiji je cilj bio otkopati zatrpani podrum koji se pokazao u super očuvanom stanju i takav proglašen zaštićenim kulturnim dobrom.

Muzej, smješten u bivšoj elektrani iznad zemlje, prikazuje industrijski napredak započet početkom 20. stoljeća kao i dramatične događaje koji su se desili za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata.

Proljetos, krajem svibnja, posjetili smo muzej u Vemorku i oduševili se kad smo shvatili da smo jedni od malobrojnih gostiju.

https://nia.no/en/vemork/#1512591377345-904f1dd9-02f8

Mir, tišina i neometanost omogućili su nam da smireno i detaljno pogledamo izložbu koja, uz pomoć, pisanih, video i slikovnih izložaka dočarava sve tri operacije napada na tvornicu.
A nakon posjeta muzeju, obavezan je bio film s Krikom Naglas, dok me serija Rat za tešku vodu u njemačko-norveškoj produkciji još uvijek čeka. Zima je tu, možda je pravo vrijeme da ju krenem gledati 🙂
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280150/