Vemork is the name of an old hydro electrical power plant in Norway, named after the area where it is situated and close to the town of Rjukan in Tinn municipality, in the county of Telemark. Heavy water is water which contains a higher proportion than normal of the Isotope Deuterium, as deuterium oxide, D2O or ²H2O Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by Hydropower, ie the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water A power station (also referred to as generating station, power plant or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Rjukan is a city and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark. Tinn is a municipality in the county of Telemark Norway. The parish of Tin was established as a municipality January 1 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt ||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions called counties ( fylker, singular fylke) and 430 municipalities ( kommuner, cf ||-||} Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties ( Norwegian: singular fylke, plural fylker ( Bokmål is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder.
In 1906, Norsk Hydro started construction of what was to be the world's largest hydro electrical powerplant. Norsk Hydro ASA (,) is a Norwegian Aluminium and Renewable energy company headquartered in Oslo. The 60-MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan waterfall in 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 finance by overseas sources. The plant became the corporate precursor to Norsk Hydro. Ten 6-MW T/G sets were supplied by Voith and AEG (Units 1-5) and Escher Wyss and Oerlikon (Units 6-10).
In 1911, construction was complete. The plant itself was built to power a factory producing artificial fertilizer by a new method invented by Kristian Birkeland. Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant Kristian Olaf Birkeland ( December 13, 1867 - June 15, 1917) was born in Christiania ( Oslo today and wrote his first Later, Norsk Hydro another project that was developed and realized was the production of heavy water (deuterium) by means of electrolysis. Norsk Hydro ASA (,) is a Norwegian Aluminium and Renewable energy company headquartered in Oslo. The company built a unit for producing high concentrations of heavy water at the Vemork plant at Rjukan although for what purpose is not stated. Production started in December 1934. .
In 1940, the French Government purchased the entire stock then available of heavy water from Norway. The Germans had offered to purchase it also, 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. This supply eventually went back to England. (see Tube Alloys#The Paris Group)
During the German occupation of Norway in World War II, the heavy water production plant was sabotaged by SOE in order to prevent the Germans from making an atomic bomb. Tube Alloys was the code-name for the British Nuclear weapon directorate during World War II, when the very possibility of nuclear weapons was kept at such a high World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions taken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring The Special Operations Executive ( SOE) (sometimes referred to as "the Baker Street Irregulars " after Sherlock Holmes ' fictional group of helpers A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. It was, however, later discovered that the Germans were not as close to making an atomic bomb as was initially feared.
The production of heavy water was judged to be a serious enough threat that at least 5 separate attacks were launched during World War II. [1]
- On October 18, 1942, Norwegian SOE commandos, code-named "Grouse", staged a reconnaissance mission.
- In November 1942, Operation Freshman was conducted by British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Their aircraft crashed and the survivors were captured and executed by the Germans.
- On 28 February 1943, a Norwegian commando raid destroyed the Rjukan electrolysis plant, with the loss of 500kg of heavy water.
- 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" taking a shipment of heavy water to Germany.
Today the original powerplant is an industrial museum. The exhibitions cover both the heavy water sabotage and the early Norwegian labour movement. The location of the former powerplant is .
Other media
A Norwegian movie about the sabotage operation against the heavy water powerplant was made after World War II, starring several of the original saboteurs. Later, in 1965, director Anthony Mann made an English version entitled The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. Anthony Mann ( June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American actor and film director The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 War film directed by Anthony Mann based on the story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, Richard St John Harris ( October 1 1930 - October 25 2002) was a two-time Academy Award -nominated and Grammy Award
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 powerplant. Raymond Paul "Ray" Mears (born February 7, 1964) is a British Author and TV presenter on the subject of Bushcraft
In 1975 a nonfiction book by (author) Thomas Gallagher and (published) by Bantam called "Assault in Norway" was produced. It states on the cover to be "the true story of the secret mission that blasted Hitler's dream of an atomic bomb".
References
External links
- The museum at Vemork - official website
- Rjukan's local tourist office
- The Heroes of Telemark at the Internet Movie Database
- Pickture of Vemork
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