816 Nuclear Military Plant

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Interior of the military plant 816Gong Cheng Nei Bu 0626.jpg
Interior of the military plant
The large reactor hall inside the complex 816 Nuclear Military Plant reactor hall.jpg
The large reactor hall inside the complex

816 Nuclear Military Plant (simplified Chinese :816地下核工厂; traditional Chinese :816地下核工廠) is an unfinished Chinese underground nuclear weapons production facility and the largest man-made tunnel structure in the world. [1] A military megaproject, the nuclear base is located near what is now suburban Fuling, a municipality in Chongqing, China. In 2010, it was opened to Chinese tourists. It is a distinct network of nuclear-weapons manufacturing tunnels to the likewise defunct Underground Project 131 and the still operational "Underground Great Wall of China."

Contents

History

The project was started in 1966 when Sino-Soviet relations dramatically declined (see also the Sino-Soviet split). To enhance China's national defence and prevent possible Soviet invasion and nuclear attack, the project was approved (directly by then-Premier Zhou Enlai) and undertaken in secret. More than 60,000 engineering soldiers of the People's Liberation Army participated in the construction of the base. [1] The underground base was designed to be able to tolerate thousands of tons of TNT explosives and 8-magnitude earthquakes. [1]

The project was under construction for 17 years, and the construction was nearly completed in 1984. In 1964 China made its first public nuclear test. Largely due to change in the Cold War international situation, the project was cancelled in February 1984. [2] It was further declassified in April 2002. [2] In April 2010, after being closed for over 25 years, the base was opened to tourists. [1] [2]

Structure

The surface area of the cave is more than 104,000 m2, and the total length of the tunnels is more than 20 kilometers. [3] The whole complex consists of 13 levels, 18 artificial caves linked to each other, and has more than 80 roads and 130 tunnels. [3] Automobiles are able to pass the roads and tunnels inside. [3] The base has the “World's Largest Artificial Cave”, [1] which has a height of 79.6 meters, roughly equal to that of a 20-floor building. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hubei</span> Province of China

Hubei is an inland province of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The provincial capital, Wuhan, serves as a major transportation hub and the political, cultural, and economic hub of central China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chongqing</span> City in southwest China

Chongqing is a municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It is the only directly administrated municipality located deep inland. The municipality covers a large geographical area roughly the size of Austria, which includes several disjunct urban areas in addition to Chongqing proper. Due to its classification, the municipality of Chongqing is the largest city proper in the world by area, though it does not have the largest urban area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground city</span> Series of linked subterranean spaces

An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of these. Underground cities may be currently active modern creations or they may be historic including ancient sites, some of which may be all or partially open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sino-Soviet split</span> Conflict between communist blocs

The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Leninism, as influenced by their respective geopolitics during the Cold War of 1947–1991. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sino-Soviet debates about the interpretation of orthodox Marxism became specific disputes about the Soviet Union's policies of national de-Stalinization and international peaceful coexistence with the Western Bloc, which Chinese leader Mao Zedong decried as revisionism. Against that ideological background, China took a belligerent stance towards the Western world, and publicly rejected the Soviet Union's policy of peaceful coexistence between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc. In addition, Beijing resented the Soviet Union's growing ties with India due to factors such as the Sino-Indian border dispute, and Moscow feared that Mao was too nonchalant about the horrors of nuclear warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyongyang Metro</span> Rapid transit system in North Korea

The Pyongyang Metro is the rapid transit system in Pyongyang, the capital and largest city of North Korea. It consists of two lines: the Chollima Line, which runs north from Puhŭng Station on the banks of the Taedong River to Pulgŭnbyŏl Station, and the Hyŏksin Line, which runs from Kwangbok Station in the southwest to Ragwŏn Station in the northeast. The two lines intersect at Chŏnu Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closed city</span> Settlements requiring authorization to visit

A closed city or town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research installations that require much more space or internal freedom than is available in a conventional military base. There may also be a wider variety of permanent residents, including close family members of workers or trusted traders who are not directly connected with clandestine purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guangyuan</span> Prefecture-level city in Sichuan, Peoples Republic of China

Guangyuan is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan Province, China, bordering the provinces of Shaanxi to the northeast and Gansu to the northwest. The city has a population of 2,305,657 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project 596</span> First Chinese nuclear test, 1964

Project 596 was the first nuclear weapons test conducted by the People's Republic of China, detonated on 16 October 1964, at the Lop Nur test site. It was a uranium-235 implosion fission device made from weapons-grade uranium (U-235) enriched in a gaseous diffusion plant in Lanzhou.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xianning</span> Prefecture-level city in Hubei, Peoples Republic of China

Xianning is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Jiangxi to the southeast and Hunan to the southwest. It is known as the "City of Osmanthus".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunnel warfare</span> Use of tunnels and other underground cavities in wars

Tunnel warfare is using tunnels and other underground cavities in war. It often includes the construction of underground facilities in order to attack or defend, and the use of existing natural caves and artificial underground facilities for military purposes. Tunnels can be used to undermine fortifications and slip into enemy territory for a surprise attack, while it can strengthen a defense by creating the possibility of ambush, counterattack and the ability to transfer troops from one portion of the battleground to another unseen and protected. Also, tunnels can serve as shelter from enemy attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic tourism</span> Tourism involving travel to nuclear sites

Atomic tourism or nuclear tourism is a form of tourism in which visitors witness nuclear tests or learn about the Atomic Age by traveling to significant sites in atomic history such as nuclear test reactors, museums with nuclear weapon artifacts, delivery vehicles, sites where atomic weapons were detonated, and nuclear power plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Front (China)</span> Chinese industrial development campaign

The Third Front Movement or Third Front Construction was a Chinese government campaign to develop industrial and military facilities in the country's interior. The campaign was motivated by concerns that China's industrial and military infrastructure would be vulnerable in the event of invasion by the Soviet Union or air raids by the United States. The largest development campaign of Mao-era China, it involved massive investment in national defense, technology, basic industries, transportation and other infrastructure investments and was carried out primarily in secret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force</span> Submarine service of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy

The People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force (PLANSF) is the submarine service of the People's Liberation Army Navy. It consists of all types of submarines in operational service organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet, and the South Sea Fleet. Submarines have long been one of the three focuses of the People's Liberation Army Navy, and when the decision was made in late 2006 to concentrate on building other principal surface combatants to strengthen the air defense and to further delay the construction of aircraft carriers due to insufficient air cover, submarines will continue to play the lead dominant role in the assault force for the PLAN. Currently, PLANSF operates a fleet of 66 submarines which include nuclear as well as conventional submarines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Test No. 6</span> Sixth Chinese nuclear test, 1967

Test No. 6 is the codename for China's first test of a three-staged thermonuclear device and, also its sixth nuclear weapons test. It was a part of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" program.

The China Nuclear International Uranium Corporation (中国国核海外铀资源开发公司) is a Chinese Government owned corporation involved in prospecting, and eventually mining, overseas sources of uranium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground City (Beijing)</span> Bomb shelter underneath Beijing, China

The Underground City (Chinese: 地下城; pinyin: Dìxià Chéng; Wade–Giles: Ti4-hsia4 Chʻêng2) is a Cold War era bomb shelter consisting of a network of tunnels located beneath Beijing, China. It has also been referred to as the Underground Great Wall since it was built for the purpose of military defense. The complex was constructed from 1969 to 1979 in anticipation of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, as Sino-Soviet relations worsened and was officially reopened in 2000. Visitors were allowed to tour portions of the complex, which has been described as "dark, damp, and genuinely eerie". Underground City has been closed for renovation since at least February 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground Project 131</span> Underground tunnel system in Hubei province, China

Underground Project 131 is a system of tunnels in Hubei province constructed in the late 1960s and the early 1970s to accommodate the Chinese People's Liberation Army command headquarters in case of a nuclear war. The facility was never fully completed or used, and is currently open to visitors as a tourist attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furong Cave</span> Cave in Peoples Republic of China

Furong Cave is a karst cave located on the banks of the Furong River, 20 km (12 mi) from the seat of Wulong District, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.

The Underground Great Wall of China is the informal name for the 3,000 mile (5,000km) system of tunnels used by China to store and transport intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Two Bombs, One Satellite was a nuclear weapon, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and artificial satellite development program by the People's Republic of China. China detonated its first fission and first thermonuclear weapons in 1964 and 1967 respectively, combined a nuclear weapon with a surface-to-surface missile in 1966, and successfully launched its first satellite in 1970.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Former nuclear plant opening as tourist attraction". China Daily. 2010-04-13. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Christina Wang (April 28, 2010). "Chongqing 816 Nuclear Defense Cave Will Open to the Public". www.prlog.org. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 图集:重庆地下核工厂首次作为旅游景点开放 (in Chinese). Tencent QQ News. 2010-04-26. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010.