His response was the largest underground nuclear base on the planet

Talking about the cold war is talking about espionage, secret bases, Advanced weapons to win the opponent in a potential armed conflict and, above all, the Atomic Arsenal Explosion And constant fear of Nuclear Apocalypse. And this implies talking about Russia and the US as protagonists, leaving us in the inkwell to other actors in the conflict. China was another proper name during the Cold War, getting fully into the nuclear race. And they did it big.

With the world’s largest nuclear military plant, the mysterious nuclear military plant 816.

Bad crumbs with the USSR. The cold war was a tremendously complicated conflict that was played three bands part of time. The US and the USSR were two of the legs, but China entered Liza when the Sino-Soviet conflict. Simplifying history, the Soviet Union And China competed for being the champions of communism and, at a time of 1969, the Soviet Union even considered bombing China with nuclear bombs, including Beijing.

However, United States “intervened“, Turning the conflict and relations with China. The position of both approached the subsequent years, but before that, and with a China smelling that the USSR could threaten with its nuclear arsenal, began to build the Nuclear Military Plant 816.

Great Nuclear Wall. Zhou enlaiChinese prime minister at that time, he responded to the Sino-Soviet rupture giving the Output gun to a military base in the Chongqing region that would be much more than a bunker: it would become the Nuclear underground installation most important in the country. The goal? Produce plutonium that could be installed in arms, creating nuclear missiles without Soviet help.

The works began in 1966 and in process more than 60,000 soldiers of the popular liberation army participated. The objective of the installation was that he was armored against missile attacks, but also against earthquakes of magnitude 8. In addition, he had a great natural wall around him: the Jinzi mountain and his granite.

Colossal. Secretism was a constant when building the complex. This is something common and logical in this type of facilities, reaching the extreme that the workers of the workers did not know what their relatives were working or where. In the official records it is indicated that 76 people died during some works that extended over 17 years, but there are sources They point out that the figure would be much greater.

Apart, the nuclear military plant 816 has an area of ​​more than 104,000 m² and is the largest tunnel system excavated by the human being. Its 130 galleries total more than 20 kilometers long over 18 United Artificial Cuevas, has more than 13 levels and the height to the deepest point is almost 80 meters, similar to a 25 -story building. In addition, to go from some sites to others inside the plant, cars that circulated on underground roads could be used.

That is … it’s huge

The control table

The reactor room

Reverse. During the years of construction, China made Advances in its nuclear program. Although it has been more recent when they officially reached The 500 headsthe first public nuclear test in the country was in 1964, but the complex of the 816 Pedish served little. The reason? After 17 years building that colossal cavernary system and with the advances at 85%, they decided to cancel it.

The changes in international relations and the dimensioning tension of the cold war led to a brake on the project. The reactor was never operational and the program was classified in 1984. In 2002, however, it came to light and we could know all these details, even knowing that part of the plant was recycled to become In a fertilizer factory.

Tourists, welcome. But with all that excavated, it would be nonsense to have it closed to lime and song. Something like that must have thought of authorities, since, in 2010, they decided open part of the base to the public. Thanks to this we can see photographs like those that accompany these lines and know How would the conditions of a base destined to manufacture nuclear missiles in China 60 years ago.

And, in addition to serving as a museum, it is a memorial for the human sacrifices of those who participated in the project, they were official … or those that do not appear in the records.

Images | 重庆轨交 18, Iswzo, Lastrik, Pierre Marshall

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