Things to do in Suffolk when you're fucking hungover on a Sunday morning:
#1: Walk 10 miles to see Orford Ness Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
"It should only take an hour and a half each way"
I don't think anyone else was really up for it but no one wanted to admit that so I drag everyone over 4 and a half miles of shingle to see the possibly radioactive delights of Orford Ness AWRE.
Built in the heights of the cold war Orford Ness was chosen as the testing grounds for the UK's nuclear weapons program. The first buildings were completed in 1956. Apparently 'there will be no tests involving the release of radioactive matter' but the explosion proof buildings imply a different story - backed up by tales of overnight tests involving plutonium and fusion components.
The labs were built of thick concrete on the remote spit, some had a roof on concrete supports that would collapse in the case of an explosion trapping the contents inside. Others were completely buried in shingle.
On our approach we spotted a green land rover driving around the site and hoping he hadn't spotted us hid inside a derelict building for a time. Luckily after 15 minutes the occupants drove off leaving us to explore the site on our own.
Lab 1 in the background and it's control room in the foreground. Lab 1 was a vibration test facility. The strong sides and weak roof would force any explosion upwards:
After long walk to Orford Ness test site we stopped by the remaining buildings of Cobra Mist.
Now in private hands the site is still very secure. We were short of time so just looked around the externals of the huge grey colossus and made a short climb to the roof of the building.
Hopefully one day we'll get to see what remains inside.
Developed by the US Air Force at the height of the cold war Cobra Mist was a long range over the horizon radar system matching in purpose the Soviet's Duga radar system at Chernobyl.
An arc shaped array of 18 strings 620 meters long spread from a single point across the Orford Ness flood plain in Suffolk. Active radar elements hung from the strings and below this a mesh grid reflector was suspended. The buildings were built on stilts so if the land flooded the radar systems wouldn't be affected.
With a huge transmission power of 10MW the system could detect objects between a range of 930km and 3,700km.
The infrastructure was completed in 1971 when testing began. Unfortunately noise issues plagued the experiments of the test engineers causing false readings over land. After 2 years of testing the US air force gave up on the system and the experimental site closed. One possible source of the noise issues was deliberate electronic disruption by the Soviet government.
#1: Walk 10 miles to see Orford Ness Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
"It should only take an hour and a half each way"
I don't think anyone else was really up for it but no one wanted to admit that so I drag everyone over 4 and a half miles of shingle to see the possibly radioactive delights of Orford Ness AWRE.
Built in the heights of the cold war Orford Ness was chosen as the testing grounds for the UK's nuclear weapons program. The first buildings were completed in 1956. Apparently 'there will be no tests involving the release of radioactive matter' but the explosion proof buildings imply a different story - backed up by tales of overnight tests involving plutonium and fusion components.
The labs were built of thick concrete on the remote spit, some had a roof on concrete supports that would collapse in the case of an explosion trapping the contents inside. Others were completely buried in shingle.
On our approach we spotted a green land rover driving around the site and hoping he hadn't spotted us hid inside a derelict building for a time. Luckily after 15 minutes the occupants drove off leaving us to explore the site on our own.
Looking into Lab 1:
Lab 2 was a similar design to Lab 1. It contained a centrifuge for g force testing:
Plant room for Lab 2:
Lab 3 was for temperature testing. The entire building was buried in shingle.
Inside Lab 3 thermal chamber:
The Pagodas were used for combined temperature and vibration testing, with a collapsing roof to contain an explosion.
View attachment
Plant room to a pergoda.
Inside a pergoda.
Control room
Looking out from the control room.
Lab 2 was a similar design to Lab 1. It contained a centrifuge for g force testing:
Plant room for Lab 2:
Lab 3 was for temperature testing. The entire building was buried in shingle.
Inside Lab 3 thermal chamber:
The Pagodas were used for combined temperature and vibration testing, with a collapsing roof to contain an explosion.
Plant room to a pergoda.
Inside a pergoda.
Control room
Looking out from the control room.
After long walk to Orford Ness test site we stopped by the remaining buildings of Cobra Mist.
Now in private hands the site is still very secure. We were short of time so just looked around the externals of the huge grey colossus and made a short climb to the roof of the building.
Hopefully one day we'll get to see what remains inside.
Developed by the US Air Force at the height of the cold war Cobra Mist was a long range over the horizon radar system matching in purpose the Soviet's Duga radar system at Chernobyl.
An arc shaped array of 18 strings 620 meters long spread from a single point across the Orford Ness flood plain in Suffolk. Active radar elements hung from the strings and below this a mesh grid reflector was suspended. The buildings were built on stilts so if the land flooded the radar systems wouldn't be affected.
With a huge transmission power of 10MW the system could detect objects between a range of 930km and 3,700km.
The infrastructure was completed in 1971 when testing began. Unfortunately noise issues plagued the experiments of the test engineers causing false readings over land. After 2 years of testing the US air force gave up on the system and the experimental site closed. One possible source of the noise issues was deliberate electronic disruption by the Soviet government.
