Project Iceworm: The Arctic City Beneath Camp Century

The B1M reveals Camp Century, an underground Arctic base built in the 1950s that became Project Iceworm, a plan to hide 600 nuclear missiles beneath Greenland’s ice. The video details the engineering feats, the brutal logistics, and the social experiments conducted to test living in extreme isolation. It also covers the base’s abandonment, the later discovery of toxic waste left behind, and the climate-driven signals that threaten to unearth dangerous remnants as ice melts. This summary previews how a Cold War fantasy reveals lasting environmental and geopolitical implications.

Introduction

The video explores Camp Century, an ultra-secret Cold War project that evolved into Project Iceworm, an Arctic under-ice base intended to house hundreds of nuclear missiles. Set in Greenland, near the Thule Air Base, the project was part publicity stunt, part military planning, and part psychological research on human endurance in extreme isolation.

Origins and Vision

In the late 1950s, amid the space race and nuclear tension, the U.S. military pursued an ambitious polar strategy. Camp Century emerged as a prototype for a network of underground Arctic towns. Publicly presented as a scientific outpost, the true purpose—secretly storing missiles beneath the ice—only came to light decades later after declassification.

Engineering Feats and Daily Life

Construction used a cut and cover method, with tunnels carved under the ice and prefabricated buildings placed on stilts to minimize heat transfer. A unique -15 C ventilation system maintained cold tunnels while managing interior heat. A portable 1.5 megawatt nuclear reactor powered the base, enabling energy independence in a place with no accessible fuel supply. Water came from a deep ice well, and life inside resembled a small, isolated town with kitchens, barracks, and recreational activities to combat boredom.

Military Ambitions and Reality

The Iceworm plan aimed to hide 600 missiles across a vast tunnel network three times the size of Denmark. The Danish government treated the program with caution, working to downplay its military implications even as the U.S. pressed ahead with defense requirements and access to nearby Thule Air Base.

Abandonment and Legacy

By the early 1960s, the reactor was shut down and Camp Century was abandoned by 1969 as advancements in missile technology rendered Iceworm obsolete. The tunnels and structures were left to the Arctic environment, only to be later revealed by climate-driven melt and radar discoveries in the 2010s and 2020s. The program left behind toxic waste, raising ethical questions about responsibility andCleanup under international agreements with Greenland.

Climate Implications and Reemergence

Modern radar mapping showed the underground network still preserved beneath the ice, while rising temperatures threaten to expose hazardous waste. This creates new policy and environmental challenges about remediation in a warming Arctic with shared responsibilities between Denmark and the United States.

Conclusion

The Camp Century and Project Iceworm saga illustrates how Cold War ingenuity and ambition intersect with long term environmental stewardship and geopolitical ethics, revealing a haunting example of what happens when technology, secrecy, and extreme environments collide.