World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn 1906, the newly founded power company Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk started building the Vemork power station near the Rjukan waterfall in Telemark, Norway. When it completed in 1911, it became the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. One of its major customers was initially a nearby artificial fertilizer plant. In Dec 1934, Vemork became the first heavy water production facility, producing 12 tons per year by a method called electrolysis. Heavy water (deuterium oxide) differed from normal water (hydrogen dioxide) by having the hydrogen isotope deuterium, which was discovered by American physical chemist Harold Urey in 1931. In 1940, both Germany and France approached Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk to purchase the plant's stock of heavy water. Learning that it was for military purposes, the Norwegian government interfered, giving the deal to France in secret; the stock that was smuggled to the Curie Laboratory in France later went to Britain as France fell under German control. The first nuclear reactor in the world used graphite as the neutron moderator, but heavy water was also considered a possible candidate, thus Vemork quickly gathered attention by both sides of the European War. During the German occupation of Norway, the plant was repeatedly sabotaged by British Special Operations Executive between Oct 1942 and Feb 1943, with the 28 Feb 1943 action being the most successful, having destroyed important electrolysis equipment. In Nov 1943, Allied aircraft dropped more than 400 bombs on the facility, causing some damage, but the electrolysis equipment (at the time being repaired from the 28 Feb 1943 saboteur damage) suffered little. The plant resumed normal production of heavy water after the war, and production lasted through 1971. Heavy water produced at Vemork might have assisted in the nuclear weapons programs of India and Israel, among many others. Today the former Vemork power plant hosts the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum.

Vemork Heavy Water Plant Interactive Map

Photographs

Vemork Heavy Water Plant Timeline