Camp Century: The Secret Cold War City Beneath the Ice

For decades, the U.S. military’s Cold War secrets have been the stuff of legend, whispered about in conspiracy circles and dissected in declassified documents. But one of the most astonishing covert projects—Camp Century—wasn’t buried in the jungle or hidden in some remote desert. It was built beneath a glacier.

A City Under Ice

In 1959, at the height of Cold War paranoia, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers embarked on an audacious project: carving out a fully functional military base 100 feet beneath the polar ice cap in Greenland. To the public—and even the Danish government—this was framed as a scientific research station. But beneath the layers of ice, Camp Century was something far more ambitious: a testing ground for a secret nuclear missile program known as Project Iceworm.

Camp Century was a marvel of engineering ingenuity, a network of tunnels and chambers connected by railcars and powered by a nuclear reactor. It had laboratories, offices, sleeping quarters, a barber shop, and even a library. Soldiers stationed there endured months of isolation in sub-zero temperatures, engaged in both research and Cold War strategy.

A Grand Idea Meets a Harsh Reality

The project was ambitious, but the environment was unforgiving. The engineers who designed Camp Century had planned for the ice to act as a stable foundation for the base. What they didn’t anticipate—or underestimated—was that glaciers are in constant motion. The very ground beneath Camp Century shifted, twisted, and deformed over time, causing walls to crack, ceilings to buckle, and tunnels to narrow.

By 1963, the project’s nuclear reactor, meant to sustain the base indefinitely, was already showing signs of instability. This, combined with the realization that the ice cap’s movement would eventually crush the entire facility, led to a decision to shut down the reactor. By 1966, the base was abandoned, and the assumption was that it would be permanently entombed beneath the ice, never to be seen again.

The Cold War’s Radioactive Time Capsule

When the U.S. withdrew, they left everything behind—equipment, waste, and even the remnants of nuclear activity. The expectation was that the ice would seal it all away forever. But science had other plans. As reported by National Geographic, climate change has accelerated glacial melt at unprecedented rates. The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, and now, more than half a century later, Camp Century is beginning to resurface.

A 2016 study warned that, within decades, toxic waste—including radioactive coolant from the reactor and an estimated 200,000 liters of diesel fuel—could seep into the environment. Scientists fear that as the ice continues to melt, this Cold War relic could become an environmental hazard, leaking radiation and pollutants into Greenland’s ecosystem.

What Happens Now?

Governments and scientists alike are grappling with the implications of Camp Century’s reemergence. According to The Independent, Greenland’s officials have voiced concern over the environmental risk, while the U.S. and Denmark navigate the complex politics of cleaning up a decades-old military secret. As climate change accelerates, what was once meant to be a hidden fortress may soon become an international crisis.

Camp Century remains a testament to both human ingenuity and the limits of foresight. It was a bold, imaginative endeavor, a feat of engineering and ambition. But it also serves as a stark reminder that nature is never static—and that what we think can be buried forever may one day rise again.