McMurdo Nuclear Power Plant

© David Eldred

1962

Part of the nuclear power plant is lifted off the USS Arneb onto the ice.

Marked on the side of the steel container: "Martin PM-A3 Nuclear Power Plant" (click photo to enlarge)

In August 1960, Congress authorized the construction of a nuclear power station for McMurdo Station. Martin Coroporation was awarded the $4 million contract for the plant. It was assembled and tested in Baltimore in fall 1961.

© David Eldred

1962

More components of the nuclear power station wait to be unloaded from the USS Arneb.

In early November, 1961, the plant modules were loaded onto the USS Arneb in Rhode Island. On December 13, 1961, the ship arrived at McMurdo sound and began uloading on the ice.

© David Eldred

1962

More nuclear components

All of the components of the nuclear plant were unloaded by December 29, 1961. The components were hauled over the ice on cargo sleds to the reactor site at McMurdo Station. Between January 1, and March 1, 1962 the plant was assembled and tested. On March 4, 1961 the plant was operational. Incredibly, the entire project had gone from Congressional approval to operation in 18 month - by today's standards, an amazing feat.

© David Eldred

1962

Cargo sleds

Unfortunately, the nuclear power plant was not the answer to the station's needs that its proponents had hoped. The plant suffered several accidents and problems, from a fire in the containment tanks in fall 1962, to the coolant leak that sealed its fate in 1972. The plant was removed during the late 1970s.

Icy Dock

© David Eldred

1963

The USS Arneb (AKA-56) moored to the ice at McMurdo.

An aircraft propeller can be seen lurking in the large crate on the ice next to the ship. (Click to enlarge.)

Ships are moored to the ice by means of a deadman, a post about 4' long. A hole is chipped into the ice, narrow at the top, and wider at the bottom. The deadman, with a rope looped around its middle, is wedged sideways into the hole in the ice. When the hole is filled up with water, snow, and ice the deadman becomes a solid part of the ice sheet.

1963

One of the crew's many jokes.

"Here lies the body of an Eastwind deadman, placed here to commemorate the last Operation Deep Freeze by veteran Arctic Antarctic explorer the Duke of Eastwind BM1"

Cargo off-loading at McMurdo

© David Eldred

A D-7 Caterpillar Bulldozer tows a train of cargo sleds across the ice.

The main mission of Operation Deep Freeze was to deliver goods, supplies, and scientific equipment. Food, drink, building materials, power equipment, fuel - almost everything the station needed was delivered by ship. During the 1961-62 operation, the USS Arneb (AKA-56) carried what was supposed to be the answer to all of McMurdo's electrical power needs - a nuclear power plant.

Ships tied up and unloaded on the ice. Dozens of vehicles, from buldozers to Snow Weasels, some towing cargo sleds, made their way out onto the ice to bring the cargo back to the base. Over the course of several weeks, the contents of each ship was disgorged onto the ice, loaded on cargo carriers, and hauled to McMurdo.

A D-8 Caterpillar Bulldozer hauls cargo sleds. Several D-8 Bulldozers were delivered to Antarcica for the IGY in 1956. Nearly 50 years later, the last of the D-8s were being retired.
Antarctic D-8s turn 50

Hallett Station

© David Eldred

1962

View of Hallett Station

Hallett station was a joint American/New Zealand facility built during the first International Geophysical Year, 1957-58. The station was the first, and with the exception of a more recently established joint French-Italian facility, only international effort in Antarctica. Although it was built by the United States, the station was manned by both countries, and headed up by scientists from New Zealand for the first several years. It was a year round station until 1964, when a fire destroyed the main scientific laboratory. From that time, until it was abandoned in 1973, the station was manned during the austral summer.
The purpose of the station was to provide weather data for the U.S. aircraft flying between Christchurch and McMurdo. Scientists also researched meteorology, geomagnetism, aurora, iconosphere, and seismology at the station.

© David Eldred

1962

Foreground: Fuel trailer. Background: Hallett Station's geomagnetic dome, now on display at Canterbury Museum in New Zealand, along with several of the station's buildings. The building in the foreground is a portable Jamesway Hut, a temporary, insulated, canvas-covered shelter.

© David Eldred

1962

Adelie Rookery at Hallett Station

Seabee Hook, the station's location on Cape Hallet, has been the location of a large Adelie penguin rookery for perhaps as long as 2000 years. In typical military fashion, the penguins were simply pushed aside to make room for the station and its airstrip. Study of the rookery, as well as related biological features, became the main focus of scientific research at the station after the end of the IGY.

© David Eldred

1962

Filling rubberized fuel bladders at Hallet Station

Hallett Station was initially dismantled, and largely removed, in the 1980s. In the mid 1990s, a more extensive environmental cleanup was carried out. In 2001, it was discovered that fuel storage tanks left at the station were leaking and young penquins from the rookery were found with oil soaked feathers. Consequently, further cleanup has been necessary to more thoroughly decontaminate the site.

© David Eldred

1962

A USARP scientist with a Skua, an aggressive scavenger and predator. Skuas kill young adelies by isolating them from the rest of the rookery and repeatedly attacking them.

© David Eldred

1962

Equipment at Hallett Station

Irony

1962

A group of adult and juvenile Adelie penguins investigate this C-47 (DC-3) at Hallett Station.

The airplane, as indicated by the bent propeller and missing windshield panels, is a derelect left in the station's equipment dump. It may have had a history of problems. The plane, Number 7 "Takahe," is shown buried in the snow in a number of photos taken in 1957 at Little America V, a temporary research station built during the first Operation Deep Freeze.

The photo captures a panoply of irony. Not only is the flightless aircraft the center of attention for a group of the worlds most celebrated flightless birds, the plane's name, "Takahe," refers to a flightless bird native to New Zealand. Whether the name was added to the fuselage in jest after the plane's final mission, or if it the original moniker was a portent of the plane's future, we may never know. Perhaps the plane's fate was sealed the day the name was painted on its nose.

The rare Takahe, of which less than 300 are now known to exist, was once thought extinct. Originally known from fossil remains, it was "rediscovered" in 1948 living in a remote region.

UPDATE!!

An eagle-eyed reader pointed me to: http://www.vaq34.com/vxe6/17163.htm. According to the site:

"R4D-5L (that's #7, Takahe) crashed Sept 15, 1959, while making a landing at Hallet Station. After the touchdown on the ice at Cape Hallet the starboard main landing gear collapsed. The plane was declared a strike because it was not economical to repair due to its age" (Air Development Squadron Six, Deep Freeze 60)

It appears name "Takahe" was the plane's original VX-6 (Air Development Squadron Six) name. -ed.