Rjukan power station and the Hardangervidda plateau

When we started this trip Gretel said, "I am not going to any power stations." Well she did and she didn't seem to mind.

Rjukan must rank as one of the most interesting power stations there is. The original power station, completed in 1911, was the largest in the world. Electricity generated  produced fertiliser and later 'heavy water' - water weighing 10% more than normal water due to an additional neutron in the hydrogen atom. This water would later be a focus of Nazi Germany as they attempted to produce a nuclear bomb.

The Allies, aware of the German's atomic bomb project and their need for Rjukan heavy water, sent specially trained Norwegian resistance soldiers to destroy the heavy water manufacturing equipment. They needed to scale cliffs in order to break in to the heavily guarded power station, plant explosives with short fuses and try to make their escape. This was all achieved. The bombs put an end to production of heavy water for several months, but production recommenced. An American bombing raid, in which they dropped nearly 1,000 bombs in 30 minutes, failed to halt production.

The Germans decided to move heavy water production to Germany, but a final Norwegian resistance raid sunk a ferry carrying all the heavy water stocks, fatally impacting on Germany's atomic programme. Churchill described the attacks on Rjukan as
"The greatest resistance acts of World War 2." Two feature films have been made (one, made in 1948, featuring the original 6 saboteurs as themselves) and a recent extensive television documentary.

The power station is now a museum with an interesting range of thought provoking exhibits including a letter from Albert Einstein to Eisenhower warning him about Germany's atomic bomb programme.

The town of Rjukan is situated within a deep valley. It receives no sun at all for nearly 6 months of the year! To deliver sun to the market square 3 rotating mirrors, each measuring 17 square metres, have been erected on a mountain top overlooking the valley. These computer controlled mirrors, ironically remotely operated from Germany, illuminate one third of the market square.

Video link talking about the mirrors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvA8X9PJuo
Video link summarising the Norwegian resistance Rjukan effort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfIlYQpFswE

Part of the cliffs the saboteurs had to scale (at night and in snow and ice) to launch their attack.

The Rjukan power station

The turbines.

The Hardangervidda plateau - above the Rjukan power station where the saboteurs hid for many months. This plateau is the coldest place outside the Artic/Antarctic Circles, it has 160 days of storm each year with an average temperature of -3 degrees. We spent 2 nights camped on the plateau, it is magnificent in its bareness, a vista dominated by rock, water, snow and moss.