{"id":3255,"date":"2024-11-22T08:14:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T07:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fjordsandmountains.com\/?p=3255"},"modified":"2024-11-22T08:14:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T07:14:02","slug":"rjukan-and-hike-on-hardangervidda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fjordsandmountains.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/22\/rjukan-and-hike-on-hardangervidda\/","title":{"rendered":"Rjukan and hike on Hardangervidda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rjukan is a small town (3,100 inhabitants) located in a narrow valley by the M\u00e5na River, in the municipality of Tinn, in the Telemark county. The history of Rjukan started at the beginning of the 20th century, when the enormous potential of using Norway\u2019s waterfalls to generate electricity was discovered. It was then that hydroelectric power plants began to appear, such as the one in Tyssedal or in Rjukan. Simultaneously with the Rjukan power plant, huge industrial plants producing fertilizers were built, all in one complex, called Vemork. Rjukan quickly turned from a small agricultural village into a thriving industrial city with up to 12,000 inhabitants. The fertilizer factory, operating under the name of Norsk Hydro, still considered one of the largest domestic concerns, was founded on the initiative of an industrialist and visionary, Sam Eyde. It was in Vemork that in the 1930s heavy water began to be produced on an industrial scale, a product which, as it soon turned out, could serve as a moderator in atomic fission chain reactions. So when the Germans occupied Norway in 1940, they immediately showed up in Rjukan and took over the factory, ordering to increase the production of heavy water. The rest of the story, known as the Battle of Heavy Water, is described here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n