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{{Short description|Hydroelectric power plant in Norway}}
{{coord|59|52|16|N|8|29|29|E|type:landmark_region:NO|display=title}}
[[Image:VemorkHydroelectricPlant.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|250 px|Site of the plant in 2003]]

'''Vemork''' is a [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] [[power plant]] outside the town of [[Rjukan]] in [[Tinn Municipality]] in [[Telemark]] county, [[Norway]]. The plant was built by [[Norsk Hydro]] and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix [[nitrogen]] for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power plant with a capacity of {{convert|108|MW|lk=on}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Kraftverk: Vemork |url=https://www.nve.no/vann-vassdrag-og-miljo/nves-utvalgte-kulturminner/kraftverk/vemork/ |access-date=2018-05-04 |website=[[nve.no]] |language=no}}</ref>

Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce [[heavy water]] developing from the [[hydrogen production]] then used for the [[Haber process]]. During [[World War II]], Vemork was the target of [[Norwegian heavy water sabotage]] operations. The heavy water plant was closed in 1971, and in 1988 the power station became the [[Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum]].

A new power plant was opened in 1971 and is located inside the mountain behind the old power plant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vemork power station |url=https://www.hydro.com/en/products/energy/our-power-plants/telemark/vemork/ |access-date=2018-05-04 |website=www.hydro.com |language=en |archive-date=2019-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121222436/https://www.hydro.com/en/products/energy/our-power-plants/telemark/vemork/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Vestlandstur 2007 085.jpg|thumb|250 px| Vemork, Rjukan]]

==History==
In 1906, the then newly founded [[Norsk Hydro|Norsk hydro-elektrisk Kvælstofaktieselskab]] started construction of what was to be the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. The {{convert|108|MW|adj=on}} Vemork power station at the [[Rjukan Falls]] was the world's largest power plant when it opened in 1911, after four years of construction.<ref name=":0" /> The project was so expensive that the works had to be financed by overseas sources. The plant became the corporate precursor to Norsk Hydro. Ten {{convert|6|MW|adj=on|lk=on}} T/G sets were supplied by [[Voith]] and [[AEG (German company)|AEG]] (units 1–5) and [[Escher Wyss & Cie.|Escher Wyss]] and [[Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon|Oerlikon]] (units 6–10).

In 1911, construction was complete. The plant itself, was built to power a factory producing artificial [[fertilizer]] by a new method invented by [[Kristian Birkeland]]. Later, Norsk Hydro developed and realized another project: the production of [[heavy water]] by means of electrolysis. The company built a unit for producing high concentrations of heavy water at the [[Norsk Hydro Rjukan|Vemork plant at Rjukan]], although for what purpose was not stated. Production started in December 1934.

===Heavy water sabotage===
{{main|Norwegian heavy water sabotage}}
[[File:Rjukan - no-nb digifoto 20160511 00012 NB MIT FNR 04361 (cropped).jpg|thumb|The plant in 1947 or 1948. The heavy water was produced in the front building, the Hydrogen Production Plant.]]
In 1940, the French Government purchased the entire stock, then available, of heavy water from Norway. The Germans had also offered to purchase it, but the Norwegian Government was told of its possible military use and gave it to a French agent, who smuggled it to France via England. That supply eventually went back to England. (see [[Tube Alloys#Paris Group]])

During the German occupation of Norway in [[World War II]], the production of heavy water was judged to be a serious enough threat that at least five separate attacks were launched<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vemork Heavy Water Plant - 1942-44 |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/vemork.htm |website=GlobalSecurity.org}}</ref> in order to prevent the Germans from making an [[atomic bomb]].

*On 18 October 1942, four Norwegian SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents were parachuted in on a reconnaissance operation code-named '[[Operation Grouse (Norway)|Grouse]]'.
*On 19 November 1942, [[Operation Freshman]] was conducted by the British as a Combined Operation involving the RAF and the Army, using two Halifax bombers, each towing a glider. Three of these aircraft crashed, and the survivors were captured and executed by the Germans. 
*In February 1943, SOE's Operation '[[Operation Gunnerside|Gunnerside]]' parachuted another six Norwegian agents into the area, to join forces with the four from 'Grouse'. They successfully attacked the Rjukan electrolysis plant on the night of 28 February-1 March 1943, with the loss of 500&nbsp;kg of heavy water and destruction of the heavy-water section of the plant. 
*On 16 November 1943, an American air raid took place, but there was minimal damage to the electrolysis building. 
*On 20 February 1944, a successful attack by Norwegian resistance sank the ferry "[[D/F Hydro]]" that was taking a shipment of heavy water to Germany.

It was later discovered that the Germans were not as close to making an atomic bomb as had been initially feared. 

Today, the original power plant is an industrial museum. Its exhibitions cover both the heavy-water sabotage operations and the early Norwegian labor movement.

== Other media ==
A Norwegian movie about the sabotage operation against the heavy water power plant was made in 1948, starring several of the original saboteurs, titled ''[[Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water]]'' (USA).<ref>{{imdb title|40504| Kampen om tungtvannet (1948)}}</ref>

In 1954, a non-fiction account of the operation by one of its operatives, Knut Haukelid, ''Skis Against the Atom'', was published by Willian Kimber, later revised by Fontana Books in 1973, and then by North American Heritage Press in 1989.

In 1965, director [[Anthony Mann]] made a rather less accurate film version of the story entitled ''[[The Heroes of Telemark]]'',<ref>{{imdb title|tt0059263|The Heroes of Telemark}}</ref> starring [[Kirk Douglas]] and [[Richard Harris]].

In 1975, a non-fiction book by Thomas Gallagher called ''Assault in Norway'' was published by [[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Thomas Michael |title=Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi nuclear bomb |publisher=[[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] |year=1975 |isbn=0151095825 |edition=1st Hardcover}}, Paperback – 2010, {{ISBN|1599219123}}</ref> The book's cover states that the book is "the true story of the secret mission that blasted Hitler's dream of an atomic bomb."

Swedish metal band Sabaton put the song "Saboteurs" on the Coat Of Arms album in 2010 which tells the story

In 2003, British survival expert [[Ray Mears (author)|Ray Mears]] made a BBC documentary series and book called ''[[The Real Heroes of Telemark]]''<ref>{{imdb title|499247|The Real Heroes of Telemark}}</ref> giving a more realistic view of the difficulties encountered in the mission to sabotage the heavy-water power plant.

In 2015, [[Håkon Anton Fagarås|Håkon Anton Fagerås]] made a statue in bronze of [[Joachim Rønneberg]] on commission. It was unveiled by [[Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner|Princess Astrid]] in Ålesund. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Heidra motstandsmann |url=http://www.royalcourt.no/nyhet.html?tid=122096&sek=27262 |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=www.royalcourt.no |language=en}}</ref>

In May 2016, a book by [[Neal Bascomb]], ''The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb'', was published by [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |year=2016}}</ref> Bascomb also wrote a young adult book, ''Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb'', published May 2016 by Arthur A. Levine Books.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb |publisher=[[Arthur A. Levine Books]] |year=2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Norway|Water|Renewable energy}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Vemork}}
* [https://www.nia.no/en/ Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum – official website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000530184049/http://www.rjukan-turistkontor.no/uk/attraksjoner/industrimuseet.asp Rjukan's local tourist office]
* [http://nealbascomb.com/books-bascomb/the-winter-fortress/ Neal Bascomb's web page about his book ''The Winter Fortress'']
* [http://nealbascomb.com/young-adult-books/sabotage/ Neal Bascomb's web page about his book ''Sabotage'']

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[[Category:Hydroelectric power stations in Norway]]
[[Category:Norsk Hydro]]
[[Category:Tinn]]