Vemork
Encyclopedia
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
power plant outside Rjukan
Rjukan
Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...
in Tinn
Tinn
Tinn is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
for the production of fertilizer. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
developing from the hydrogen production then used for the Haber process
Haber process
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the nitrogen fixation reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas, over an enriched iron or ruthenium catalyst, which is used to industrially produce ammonia....
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Vemork was the target of Norwegian heavy water sabotage
Norwegian heavy water sabotage
The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water , which could be used to produce nuclear weapons...
operations. The heavy water plant was closed in 1971, and in 1988 the power station became the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum
Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum
Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum is an industrial museum located at Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. Located in the Vemork power station, it was established in 1988 to allow the preservation of industrial society created by Norsk Hydro when they established themselves in Rjukan in 1907.-Premise:The...
.
History
In 1906, Norsk HydroNorsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
started construction of what was to be the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. The 60-MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan waterfall was the world’s largest power plant when it opened in 1911, after six years of construction. The project was so expensive that the works had to be financed by overseas sources. The plant became the corporate precursor to Norsk Hydro. Ten 6-MW T/G sets were supplied by Voith
Voith
The Voith GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany, is a family-run corporation in the mechanical engineering sector with worldwide operations....
and AEG
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
(units 1-5) and Escher Wyss
Escher Wyss & Cie.
Escher Wyss & Cie., also known as Escher Wyss AG, was a Swiss industrial company with a focus on engineering and turbine construction. The company was headquartered in the Zurich quarter of Escher Wyss, which takes its name from the company....
and Oerlikon
Oerlikon
Oerlikon may refer to:*Oerlikon , a district in the northern part of Zürich, Switzerland*Zürich Oerlikon train station located in Zürich*OC Oerlikon , a Swiss technology conglomerate...
(units 6-10).
In 1911, construction was complete. The plant, itself, was built to power a factory producing artificial fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
by a new method invented by Kristian Birkeland
Kristian Birkeland
Kristian Olaf Birkeland was a Norwegian scientist. He is best remembered as the person who first elucidated the nature of the Aurora borealis. In order to fund his research on the aurorae, he invented the electromagnetic cannon and the Birkeland-Eyde process of fixing nitrogen from the air...
. Later, Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...
developed and realized another project—the production of heavy water (deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
) by means of electrolysis. The company built a unit for producing high concentrations of heavy water at the Vemork plant at Rjukan
Norsk Hydro Rjukan
Norsk Hydro Rjukan is an industrial facility operated by Norsk Hydro at Rjukan in Tinn, Norway, from 1911 to 1991. The plant manufactured chemicals related to the production of fertilizer, including ammonia, potassium nitrate, heavy water and hydrogen...
, although for what purpose was not stated. Production started in December 1934.
Heavy water sabotage
In 1940, the French Government purchased the entire stock, then available, of heavy water from Norway. The Germans had also offered to purchase it, but the Norwegian Government was told of its possible military use and gave it to a French agent, who smuggled it to France via England. That supply eventually went back to England. (see Tube Alloys#The Paris Group)
During the German occupation of Norway in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the heavy-water production plant was sabotaged
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
by the SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
in order to prevent the Germans from making an atomic bomb. However, it was later discovered that the Germans were not as close to making an atomic bomb as had been initially feared.
The production of heavy water was judged to be a serious enough threat that at least five separate attacks were launched during World War II.
- On 18 October 1942, four Norwegian SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents were parachuted in on a reconnaissance operation code-named 'Grouse'.
- In November 1942, Operation FreshmanOperation FreshmanOperation Freshman was the codename given to a British airborne operation conducted in November 1942 during World War II. It was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, and its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway which produced heavy water for Nazi Germany...
was conducted by the British as a Combined Operation involving the RAF and the Army, using two Halifax bombers, each towing a glider. Three of these aircraft crashed, and the survivors were captured and executed by the Germans. - In February 1943, SOE's Operation 'Gunnerside' parachuted another six Norwegian agents into the area, to join forces with the four from 'Grouse'. They successfully attacked the Rjukan electrolysis plant on 28 February 1943, with the loss of 500kg of heavy water and destruction of the heavy-water section of the plant.
- On 16 November 1943, an American air raid took place, but there was minimal damage to the electrolysis building.
- On 20 February 1944, a successful attack by Norwegian resistance sank the ferry D/F"HYDRO" that was taking a shipment of heavy water to Germany.
Today, the original power plant is an industrial museum. Its exhibitions cover both the heavy-water sabotage operations and the early Norwegian labor movement.
Other media
A Norwegian movie about the sabotage operation against the heavy water power plant was made after World War II, starring several of the original saboteurs. Later, in 1965, director Anthony MannAnthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
made a rather less accurate Hollywood film version of the story entitled The Heroes of Telemark
The Heroes of Telemark
The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 war film directed by Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during World War II...
, starring Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
and Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
.
In 2003, British survival expert Ray Mears made a BBC documentary series and book called "The Real Heroes of Telemark," giving a more realistic view of the difficulties encountered in the mission to sabotage the heavy-water power plant.
In 1975, a non-fiction book, authored by Thomas Gallagher and published by Bantam, called "Assault in Norway" was produced. The book's cover states that the book is "the true story of the secret mission that blasted Hitler's dream of an atomic bomb."
The power-metal band Sabaton
Sabaton (band)
Sabaton is a Grammis-nominated power metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band's main lyrical themes are those of historical wars. This is heard in albums Primo Victoria, Attero Dominatus and Coat of Arms where all of the songs, except final tracks, take inspiration from historical...
recorded a song about the Vemork sabotage on their album Coat of Arms
Coat of Arms (album)
-Personnel:* Joakim Brodén - vocals* Rickard Sundén - guitars* Oskar Montelius - guitars* Pär Sundström - bass* Daniel Mullback - drums* Daniel Mÿhr - keyboards-Chart performance:-Certifications:- Notes :...
.