While nuclear energy research and development in Denmark proper during the Cold War has been treated by a number of historians (Petersen 1996; Nielsen et al 1998; Christensen 2000), and thereby shown to be almost exclusively driven by non-military actors, the situation with respect to Greenland is much more blurred. It is well-known that the territory of Greenland was of the highest strategic interest to the United States during the Cold War, and that the US military even deployed nuclear weapons at Thule Air Base at least from 1959 to 1965 (DUPI 1997).

But nuclear R & D taking place in Greenland during the Cold War has not been subject to the same close scrutiny by historians. Exceptions are spectacular projects like Project Iceworm, a huge military project run by the US Army with the aim to deploy several hundred ICBM’s carrying nuclear warheads in a widespread system of tunnels under the Greenland icecap (Weiss 2001; Petersen 2008); and spectacular events such as Operation Crested Ice, a major cleaning-up effort launched after the Thule accident on 21 January 1968, when a US Air Force B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed into the frozen North Star Bay, approximately 10 miles from Thule Air Base (DUPI 1997; Brink 1997; Stiles 2006; Oskins and Maggelet 2008).

The present subproject will not deal with these spectacular events, but will explore two other projects taking place in Greenland during the Cold War period. They are usually referred to as peaceful projects, but so far they have not been subject to a thorough and critical historical analysis:

• Uranium exploration. The aim is to investigate the formation and performance of the actor networks behind repeated Danish efforts to find uranium ores in and extract this valuable mineral from solid rock deposits in Greenland. The first expedition with uranium prospecting in mind was launched immediately after the establishment in 1955 of the Danish Atomic Energy Commission (AEK). It was run as a collaborative project between AEK and the Danish Army, with Danish geologists from the Greenland Geological Survey (GGU) on the sideline, much to their dismay. Eventually, GGU became involved and the army pulled out of the project. Much later, during the oil crises in the 1970s with its accompanying increased interest in nuclear power, the Danish government supported the transfer of several hundred tons of uranium ore to Risø with a view to explore the economic viability of a commercial production of uranium for reactor fuel elements. Were the Danish uranium exploration and extraction activities initiated in response to US pressure, or did the Danes have their own agenda? Why was the Danish Army particularly interested in discovering uranium in Greenland? Why was GGU so reluctant to enter the project in spite of being submitted to heavy pressure from AEK and the Danish government? What were the results of the explorations undertaken during the late 1950s and the extraction projects in the 1970s? Which decisions were taken by AEK and other relevant authorities on the basis of these results?
• The reactor under the ice. Our aim here is to investigate the deployment, functioning, and decommissioning of the 10 MW nuclear reactor installed in 1960 by the US Army at Camp Century. The reactor, the only power producing reactor on Danish territory, was removed again after approximately three years of service (Daugherty 1963; Taagholt 2002). But why did this reactor come into being? What was its purpose, and how did it perform? Were there any serious discussions at Thule Air Base or at Camp Century about reactor safety or the radioactive waste problem? Why was the reactor removed so quickly? Were there any investigations of traces, radioactive or otherwise, left at the spot where it functioned from 1960 to 1963?