Original subtitles

Narrator: a military base Lost in the american desert.

It looks like it was hit By an atomic bomb.

Narrator: a wrecked Arctic facility that goes deep.

It was almost like A subterranean space race.

Who could get down The deepest first?

Narrator: and a vast structure Abandoned high in the mountains.

It's a surprising building To find in that location.

Narrator: once, they were some Of the most advanced structures

Narrator: once, they were some Of the most advanced structures

And facilities On the planet,

At the cutting edge Of design and construction.

Today, They stand abandoned,

Contaminated, And sometimes deadly.

But who built them, And how?

And why were They abandoned?

*

*

*

*

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Narrator: 170 miles Southeast of los angeles

Is the salton sea --

A shallow and salty Body of water

Covering nearly 350 square miles Of the colorado desert.

*

Gough: It's an extraordinary feature Of the california desert --

Gough: It's an extraordinary feature Of the california desert --

A 30-mile-long lake In the middle of the wilderness.

Narrator: On the northeast corner,

Sun-bleached, Rotting timbers of a dock

Lie half-buried In the desert sand.

You have desolation And, basically, decay.

It's like a graveyard.

Narrator: A crumbling solitary building

Blasted by the elements Overlooks the seaside.

And hidden under the desert sand Are broken concrete roadways,

Foundations for dozens Of buildings,

And two 4,000-foot-long runways.

*

Gough: there's dead fish Along the shoreline.

It's one of the most famous Post-apocalyptic landscapes

In the all of The united states.

Narrator: why was this Mysterious installation

Narrator: why was this Mysterious installation

Built in such a remote And hostile area of the desert?

And why was It abandoned?

During world war ii, In december 1944,

As american forces Prepare to attack japan,

The u.S. Is trying to perfect The accuracy

Of its untested New atomic weapon.

[ explosion ]

[ explosion ]

So, the joint army-navy Z-46 group

Starts to conduct Classified tests --

Code-named "Project y" --

For the now-well-known Manhattan project.

The location they choose Is the salton sea.

The salton sea was ideal For the manhattan project

And its aerodynamic testing.

It was for two reasons -- It was completely isolated,

And two, That afforded it secrecy.

And two, That afforded it secrecy.

Narrator: 20,730 acres Of barren desert land

And the salton sea Become a vital test range

For the manhattan project.

They did a lot of practice here, Which was pretty secretive --

In fact, Very secretive.

Nusbacher: You will not see anything

As demanding Of coordination,

Cooperation, and integration Across industry, academia,

Cooperation, and integration Across industry, academia,

And the military As the manhattan project.

Narrator: And the project's key tests

Are conducted from here --

The naval auxiliary air station, Salton sea.

Code-named "Sandy beach," Its remote location

On the edge of The shallow salton sea

Makes it ideal For testing

The aerodynamic designs Of atomic bombs.

If you're going to drop The most powerful bombs ever,

You have to be Absolutely certain

You're dropping them With precision.

Narrator: america's atomic bombs Are designed to be dropped

From 31,000 feet, From a b-29 superfortress,

And explode 2,000 feet Above the ground.

But it takes just 43 seconds For the bomb to drop that far.

Teams of observers Have less than a minute

Teams of observers Have less than a minute

To assess the performance Of each type of bomb design

Before it crashes into The salton sea near this target.

You have almost no cloud cover In a desert.

So, if you drop a bomb In daylight,

You can see exactly Where that thing hits.

That's the target out there That they used to try to hit,

About a mile and a half Out there.

Narrator: even though it is 400 feet away from the base,

The target is Practically invisible

To the b-29 bombers above.

The pilots must be able to Drop their bombs accurately.

Otherwise, they will not Survive a real bomb run.

A high-pressure Blast wave

Traveling at 1,100 feet Per second

Would knock them Out of the sky.

[ plane roaring ]

By 1944, '45, They're doing a vast amount

Of ballistics testing,

Because a very slight Modification in the shape

Because a very slight Modification in the shape

Or length of a bomb On the tail fins

Can affect That performance.

Gough: salton sea base Became ground zero

For the dropping of 5-ton concrete bombs.

This is where the testing Took place, supposedly,

For hiroshima.

Narrator: with only Three atomic bombs built

By the summer of 1945,

By the summer of 1945,

There is no opportunity To test a live warhead here.

The trials at salton sea Are critical to demonstrate

That the weapons will hit Their targets first time.

You had aircraft That had automatic cameras.

And when they're Dropping live bombs,

You can see Where every bomb falls,

And then, survey, Mark that spot exactly.

And you might even be able To recover the bomb itself.

And you might even be able To recover the bomb itself.

Scientists and engineers Are testing over and over again

To make sure that The electronic components

That are going to make All of that technology

Turn into The most powerful blast

The world had ever seen Work exactly as advertised,

And exactly the way The engineers

And the scientists Want it to go.

Narrator: More than 120 test bombs

Narrator: More than 120 test bombs

Are dropped At the salton sea base.

Some casing designs Prove less than accurate,

And four of the giant missiles Still lie out in the desert

Where they missed the target And burrowed deep into the sand.

They did drop something right in The center of a tennis court,

Which didn't go over Too big.

I guess that's How you learn.

Narrator: But will the u.S. Military

Crack the aerodynamic design Of the atomic bomb in time?

And why was The salton sea base abandoned?

*

Narrator: hidden beneath The sand on the southwest edge

Of the deserted Salton sea in california

Lies a forgotten military Facility -- the salton sea base.

A major problem solved While testing at salton sea

Is curing the fat man Atomic bomb of a violent wobble

That it experiences When dropped.

That it experiences When dropped.

The addition of a distinctive Box-like tail

Containing eight fins,

Named a "California parachute," Suppresses the wobble

And improves The bomb's accuracy.

*

By august 1945, Because of aerodynamic tests

Conducted here, And successful atomic bomb tests

At the white sands missile range In new mexico,

At the white sands missile range In new mexico,

America is able to deploy Both the fat man

And little boy bombs On hiroshima and nagasaki

To secure allied victory Against japan.

Nusbacher: salton sea Was vitally important

To the manhattan project.

Nobody can afford To have the brain power

That's been assembled For the manhattan project

Build a bomb that's not Gonna hit the target.

Narrator: for several years After the war,

Narrator: for several years After the war,

Testing for the nuclear program Continues at the base.

But during the 1950s and '60s, As the nearby salton city

Becomes a popular Recreational resort,

Military secrecy Becomes impossible.

So, in 1971, the base is Shut down and abandoned.

Today, the area has been Reclaimed by the sand,

Today, the area has been Reclaimed by the sand,

And the salty environment Has eaten away at the buildings.

There's little that remains Of the salton sea base

To show how vital Its contribution was

To allied victory During world war ii.

There's no plaques,

There's no statues, Nothing to tell you

That this was once A very important site.

Narrator: all that is left Is a stark reminder of the costs

Narrator: all that is left Is a stark reminder of the costs

And perils of nuclear Development and all-out war.

Over 5,000 miles away, On the kola peninsula

In the far northwest Of russia,

On the border of norway,

Is a bizarre Deserted industrial site.

Forgotten in the barren arctic Tundra on the peninsula here,

Surrounded by lakes, Is a decrepit cluster

Surrounded by lakes, Is a decrepit cluster

Of two-story buildings.

The only living creatures To be seen

Are arctic rabbits taking Shelter among the debris.

Dickrell: it's so remote, Extremely dry, cold conditions.

It's just not A great place to be.

Narrator: concrete buildings Lay derelict

With twisted wreckage,

Smashed and scattered Equipment.

Smashed and scattered Equipment.

And at the center of it,

One building looks like It's been ripped apart.

It's all of these buildings, Partly derelict.

What was going on here?

Was it some sort of Concentration camp?

Was it some sort Of military base?

Narrator: So, what took place here

In this bleak And inaccessible corner

Of russia's arctic north?

And why was This site abandoned?

*

*

In the 1960s, the soviet union Is in a scientific

And technological race With the west

To understand The inner depths of our planet.

*

But this investigation is not Part of the soviet union's

Open military rivalry.

It's a scientific step To understand the geology

That is hidden Thousands of feet beneath us.

Jerram: at the moment, the way That we look inside the earth

Is through what we call "Seismic waves."

You make a big explosion On the earth's surface,

And we see the way the shock Waves travel into the earth

And back out again. And we come up with structures.

We find barriers in there.

But what are they?

Meigs: in the '60s and '70s, There was this huge fascination

With the structure of the earth, And trying to figure out

If you could drill down Through the earth's crust,

The top layer, into the mantle, Which is the soft,

The top layer, into the mantle, Which is the soft,

Kind of plastic layer That lies under the crust.

It was almost like A subterranean space race.

Who could get down The deepest first?

Narrator: This complex is the site Of an extraordinary project

To uncover the secrets of the Earth's geological structure.

This is the kola Superdeep borehole.

Only about 9 inches In diameter,

This metal lid opens A new scientific frontier.

This metal lid opens A new scientific frontier.

But it's undertaken In competition with america.

Meigs: in the '60s, The americans had started

A project called "Mohole"

To try to dig down Through the crust.

They didn't get very far, But they learned a lot.

Narrator: with the mohole In guadalupe island, mexico,

American geologists only reach 601 feet through the seabed,

11,600 feet Under the water.

11,600 feet Under the water.

But the russians Are aiming for something

Over four times deeper.

And then, the russians Came back in 1970

With this Superdeep borehole.

Narrator: and they have A distinct advantage

In drilling In such a cold location.

*

The kola peninsula sits in An area of very, very old crust.

It's called a "Shield," Really old crust.

And what's important there is That the temperature increase

And what's important there is That the temperature increase

As you go with depth Is very light,

So you have much more chance Of getting deeper

Before it gets too hot.

Narrator: will the soviets Get further into the crust

Through the kola borehole?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: deep in the heart Of the arctic,

On the kola peninsula,

Is a russian project To challenge america.

This is the kola Superdeep borehole.

Its scientific aim is to dig Deeper into the earth's crust

Than ever before.

Construction of this remote site Begins in 1965.

Construction of this remote site Begins in 1965.

And in may 1970, Drilling begins.

The prize for Soviet engineers

Is not just Outperforming the u.S.A.

And gaining New geological data.

They also want to control The earth's resources.

And they want to do it From a remote base.

Meigs: this is a very Out-of-the-way place.

They had to bring in all Their materials and expertise.

But the soviet union Did a lot of that.

But the soviet union Did a lot of that.

They were good At infrastructure,

And building big, sophisticated Bases in remote locations.

[ man speaking russian ]

Translator: the digging Of the well itself

Is a big difficulty.

I have never drilled Anything like it.

No one could advise us On the way to do it.

Narrator: but drilling into The earth's crust in this

Out-of-the-way location Is easier said than done.

The first problem That has to be overcome

The first problem That has to be overcome

Is one of Basic physics.

Even though the borehole will Only be 9 inches in diameter,

The immense torque Of turning drill tubing

Weighing over a million pounds Makes the task impossible.

So, soviet engineers Use a radical new way

Of overcoming This difficulty --

An annular-shaped Core drill.

Jerram: the technology With drilling is,

You actually just have The drill bit at the end moving.

You actually just have The drill bit at the end moving.

You force mud and other things Down to keep this thing moving,

And that's where it's Grinding away at the rock.

And in between, You can take out,

Essentially, The shaft of rock,

What we call "The core,"

And look at The structure of the earth.

Meigs: The deeper you drill,

The harder it is to manage The drilling process.

Equipment can get stuck In the hole.

The temperatures Get really high.

The rock doesn't Behave properly.

So, this was a huge Technological achievement

For its day.

[ man speaking russian ]

[ man speaking russian ]

Translator: the difficulties Were colossal.

We had to develop everything There and then.

And we contended with The difficulties of the north,

Being short summers, cold, And remoteness.

Narrator: For over a decade,

They drill into the crust Using a 200-ton,

200-foot-high drilling machine Housed in a huge yellow tower

In the center of The borehole site.

Drilling deep into The earth's crust,

Drilling deep into The earth's crust,

Averaging 190 feet A month,

It wears out Nearly 25 miles of pipes

Just from Friction and heat.

And they borehole becomes The deepest hole in the world

At an astonishing 39,000 feet.

*

Dickrell: the borehole beat The world record in 1979.

It was almost 40,000 feet Below the surface,

Which is an amazingly Deep distance

Which is an amazingly Deep distance

When you think about it.

The marianas trench, which is The deepest place in the ocean,

Is not even near That deep.

Narrator: as news spreads Of the incredible depths

Being reached By the kola site,

Rumors about its discoveries Begin to spread.

The fact that the borehole Had been dug so deeply

Was used to create A hoax,

Which was called "The well to hell."

If you listened really close, And put a microphone underneath,

You could actually hear People screaming.

You could actually hear People screaming.

[ ominous noise plays ]

This was later debunked As a complete hoax,

But the fact that The hole goes so deeply

Ignited people's imaginations That, you know,

Perhaps you could hear people Screaming down in hell.

Narrator: drilling continues To 39,587 feet,

When there is A significant setback.

One of the pipes Twists off,

And shuts down The whole operation.

And shuts down The whole operation.

Can the russians Continue to drill deeper

Into the earth's crust?

And why was the kola superdeep Borehole abandoned?

*

Narrator: far out in the arctic Tundra of russia,

The kola borehole Hopes to dig over 9 miles

Into the earth's crust, To a depth of 49,000 feet.

But at 39,587 feet, There is a catastrophic failure.

When you're drilling so deep Into the earth's crust,

When you're drilling so deep Into the earth's crust,

You're actually miles away from Where you are on the surface,

And you're drilling And drilling away.

That's one thing.

If you then Take the drill bit out,

And then you try And re-enter the hole,

That's when it can cause Many, many problems.

It's like trying to find That needle in a haystack

Down to where You were drilling before.

And the drill bit itself Can get stuck,

And you can break The drill string.

And in this instance, thousands Of feet of drill string

Were broken.

Narrator: engineers now have To start a new hole

From an offshoot At 23,300 feet.

From an offshoot At 23,300 feet.

It takes another 5 years To borehole down

To the amazing depth Of 40,230 feet.

But at this Incredible depth,

Drilling becomes Practically impossible.

The soviets discover that, when You get far enough underground,

The rocks are No longer rocks.

The rocks are No longer rocks.

Meigs: because, as you go down, It starts getting hotter.

And as it gets hotter, It's harder for the equipment,

For your drill equipment, To hold up.

But also, the rock itself Begins to get a little bit soft.

It gets to flow a little bit Like silly putty.

Dickrell: the temperatures Of the borehole itself

Were getting Extremely hot --

So hot that The drill head itself

Was becoming almost Impossible to operate,

Due to just The elevated temperatures.

Just so hot down there.

Just so hot down there.

Narrator: with their equipment Failing rapidly

As they encountered Staggeringly high temperatures

At these depths,

The engineers at kola Have no option

But to stop Further drilling.

Though they fail to reach Their target depth,

They push scientific knowledge Of the earth's structure

Further than ever before,

And make astonishing Discoveries.

One thing that surprised them Was, they discovered

A lot of water deep, Deep down in the borehole --

A lot of water deep, Deep down in the borehole --

Way below where you Would find groundwater

Or any effects Of ocean water.

Dickrell: Scientists also found there was A tremendous amount of hydrogen

Trapped in the rocks, Which was completely unexpected.

They theorized it came from Water that had been squeezed

So strongly that it actually Released hydrogen gas.

Narrator: But that isn't all they find.

Translator: we did find life, Bacteria,

At the depth of 24,600 feet.

Dickrell: the microfossils Found that deep

Dickrell: the microfossils Found that deep

Were actually Single-celled organisms

That had existed long, Long ago.

And scientists Were very surprised

That life could even exist, Or could be found, that deeply.

Narrator: The kola borehole penetrates Nearly a third of the way

Through the baltic Continental crust.

It's the deepest Artificial point on earth,

A record that is Still held today.

But with a lack of funding,

Russia closes The facility in 2005.

Today, a simple welded Steel plate is the only sign

That the world's Deepest hole

Lies directly beneath One's feet.

Jerram: You wouldn't necessarily know,

But you could be standing On that little metal plinth,

That beneath you there's more Than 7 miles of knowledge

Of what's going on Inside the earth's surface.

And that, to me, Is really fascinating.

From something that looks Completely bizarre,

From something that looks Completely bizarre,

We actually have a window Into the interior of our planet.

*

Narrator: on the other side Of europe,

On the border Of france and spain,

A tiny village of 500 people Sits in a steep-sided valley.

But 4,000 feet up, In the pyrenees mountains,

Opposite the small Cluster of houses,

Is a gigantic Derelict building.

Is a gigantic Derelict building.

Bell: it's a surprising building To find in that location.

It's grand. It's almost palatial.

And yet, there it is, Plonked down

In the middle of The pyrenees mountains

With not that much Civilization around it.

Narrator: this is no Disused factory or power plant,

But a glass And marble palace.

But a glass And marble palace.

Its ornate, three-story facade Has a total of 365 windows,

156 doors,

And stretches 800 feet Along the narrow valley floor.

Nusbacher: the idea that anybody Would build something so grand

In a place that is almost Impossible to get to,

That is astonishing.

Narrator: immense effort Has gone into creating

This incredible structure,

This incredible structure,

But why was it built here?

And why was it abandoned?

In the mid-19th century,

Spain is cut off From france and europe

By the pyrenees Mountain range,

Which covers 260 miles Of the border,

Crippling The nation's economy.

To establish A reliable trade route,

A train line Has to be constructed.

Meigs: the idea of a train line That would cross the pyrenees

Was extremely appealing.

And when that Was undertaken,

It was a massive Engineering project.

It was almost like a Panama canal type of a project,

With super long tunnels, And bridges.

Years of very, very Challenging engineering.

Narrator: they try to connect To europe with this,

The canfranc International railway station.

Building begins in 1923,

But there is A fundamental difference

Between the french and spanish Rail systems.

Megs: spanish trains ran on A different width of track

Than french trains.

So, they had to find A station big enough

To unload The french trains,

Load everything onto the Spanish trains, or vice versa.

Narrator: the only solution Is to create a transfer point

Narrator: the only solution Is to create a transfer point

From one track gauge To the other.

Completed in 1928, the station Becomes one of the longest

And highest altitude Major rail stations in europe

At nearly 4,000 feet.

It is dubbed "The titanic of the mountains."

[ camera shutter clicking ]

*

Bell: by building this huge, Impressive station

Bell: by building this huge, Impressive station

In the pyrenees,

It would open up new, Strong trade routes into france,

And then, Into the whole of europe.

[ man speaking spanish ]

Translator: it's very modern And spectacular.

It gives a sense of the great Investment that was made

To build this grand International railway.

Narrator: on july 18th, 1928, King alfonso of spain

Formally opens The canfranc station,

And declares the pyrenees No longer exist.

And declares the pyrenees No longer exist.

With posts for customs And border protection,

A hotel, restaurants, And 2,000 staff,

Canfranc rivals any of The major stations of europe.

Nusbacher: spain, they think, Has finally arrived,

And is once again A player in europe.

Narrator: but dark clouds Loom over its future.

Just 8 years After canfranc's opening,

Spain falls in the grip Of a bloody civil war.

Canfranc becomes the last stop On a railway to nowhere.

Meigs: the canfranc station Had the misfortune of sitting

Right on kind of A geopolitical fault line.

Tunnels were closed For a time then,

Because the spanish Government

Was afraid of people Smuggling in supplies.

Narrator: For several years,

Canfranc does not Formally operate,

As the spanish dictator Francisco franco

Gets the help of hitler

To brutally squash spain's Republican and communist forces.

When the spanish civil war ends In 1939,

Canfranc finally reopens,

And the station begins dealing With a new flood of passengers.

Fleeing jews and refugees head South through this station,

Away from german Prosecution.

*

But ironically, Canfranc also becomes

The vital shipment center For tons of valuable metals,

Including gold and tungsten, For hitler's war machine

As payback for his helping Franco win the civil war.

When the nazis invaded france In the second world war,

Canfranc station provided A really important railway link

Canfranc station provided A really important railway link

For jewish refugees Escaping france into spain.

[ train whistle blows ]

But going the other way, it also Provided a route for the germans

To export gold ore From spain into france,

And, effectively, Into the german reich.

Narrator: but will this gold ore Help the german war effort?

And why was the canfranc Station abandoned?

And why was the canfranc Station abandoned?

*

Narrator: the abandoned, But incredibly ornate,

Canfranc international Railway station

Plays an important role In world war ii.

By 1945, towards The end of the war,

Spain has sent tons of gold To help the nazi war efforts.

However, After germany's defeat,

Nazi leaders With tons of looted gold

Nazi leaders With tons of looted gold

Pass back through canfranc.

Because almost the only way To get from france into spain,

And onto a ship to somewhere Else in the world --

Because that requires you to get Off the train at canfranc,

To walk through Canfranc station,

That one facility Becomes a route

For evil people To get away,

And seek safety In south america.

And seek safety In south america.

This train line was a vital link Between southern france

And, essentially, The outside world.

It allowed supplies And information,

Travel to The french resistance.

They were even used For some spy missions,

Where some very brave Young women

Would carry packages Of information out to spain,

Where they would ultimately Be delivered on

To the allies And britain.

To the allies And britain.

Narrator: After the war,

With just a trickle Of international passengers,

The majestic halls Of canfranc

Grow more and more Shabby and neglected.

And 42 years after It opens its doors,

It is forced To shut down for good.

As vital as it was, the rail Line was never profitable.

And then, in 1970, There was a train accident

That destroyed One of the bridges.

That destroyed One of the bridges.

They never rebuilt it.

I think it became kind of An excuse to let the rail line

Just fall into decay.

Because, by that time,

Air travel was becoming More affordable.

Highways were better. Trucks were better.

They had more Alternatives to this

Very difficult Railroad line.

Narrator: with the rail line Out of action,

Canfranc is abandoned In the 1970s, and left to decay.

*

*

But today, the station's Old grandeur still remains.

Meigs: a lot of travelers Want to make a pilgrimage

To see this magnificent Train station.

There's something poignant About people working so hard

On some ambitious technology And infrastructure

That never quite works.

And then, it has To be abandoned,

And it just kind of Slowly rots away.

[ man speaking spanish ]

[ man speaking spanish ]

Translator: It will come back to life.

There was a bid of over $33 million made recently --

Which is a substantial Amount of money --

To finish renovating The station,

To build a new one On the other side,

And to urbanize Its surroundings.

That is the future.

Narrator: we will never Truly know what treasures

And who Passed across these platforms.

Those secrets will forever Stay hidden in the shadows

Of the pyrenees mountains.

Of the pyrenees mountains.

*

600 miles away, south of The belgian capital of brussels,

A desolate Industrial area

Spreads along the banks Of the river sambre.

Looming like a monolith Over the wasteland

Is a squat Concrete tower.

It is around 200 feet At its base,

And rises 354 feet Into the air.

And rises 354 feet Into the air.

Its corrugated sides Slope upwards

To reveal a silent, Gaping mouth.

*

It's certainly impressive. It's amazing to see.

Agrawal: It's quite beautiful.

They've got these really Flowing shapes.

Narrator: mysteriously, the wide Base is pierced all around

By numerous gaps.

The tower's interior looks Like an unfinished beehive

The tower's interior looks Like an unfinished beehive

Covered with rotting wooden Slats and weed-clogged channels.

But what lies behind the bizarre Features of this massive tower?

And why was it abandoned?

In 1921, The city of charleroi

Is in belgium's Industrial heartland.

After 4 years of german Occupation in world war I,

After 4 years of german Occupation in world war I,

Its hundreds of factories Need to go into overdrive

To get the nation's economy Back on its feet.

But all of them Are starved for power.

So, a state-of-the-art Power station is proposed --

The enormous Power plant I.M.

In the process Of generating power,

Typically, Steam engines are utilized.

To make steam, You need water.

And when you make steam, That water gets quite hot.

To create new steam, You need to take the hot water,

To create new steam, You need to take the hot water,

Cool it down, And then, recreate steam.

Narrator: power plant I.M. Is One of the largest power plants

Of its kind in europe.

*

And at its heart Is a dramatic cooling tower,

Designed to cool The water back down

And produce more steam-based Energy by burning coal.

*

We all recognize a cooling tower When we see one,

We all recognize a cooling tower When we see one,

And that's because they've got That characteristic shape.

It's called a "Hyperboloid," This 3-d form

That's quite wide at the base, And then kind of funnels in

Before coming back out again At the top.

The reason they have this shape Is because as the air,

The warm air, is drawn up Through that tower,

It's accelerated through That funnel, where it narrows,

And that draws more air in From underneath -- cooler air --

Which does the job Of a cooling tower.

Narrator: So, will the I.M. Cooling Tower's pioneering design

Help kick-start Belgium's war-torn economy?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator: in the city Of charleroi, in belgium,

Is the power plant I.M.

To produce steam-based energy, Its cooling tower

Is able to cool An incredible

480,000 gallons of water Every minute.

But this is only possible Because of the unique use

Of its cone-like Hyperboloid shape.

Of its cone-like Hyperboloid shape.

The hyperboloid shape Of a cooling tower

Is extremely effective In terms of heat transfer

Between the hot water And the rising air.

In that way, the design Has persisted through time

As a very classical And effective way

To do what you need to do.

*

Narrator: For all its simplicity,

The cooling tower itself Is no easy build.

The hyperboloid shape is not Simply a matter of styling,

The hyperboloid shape is not Simply a matter of styling,

But a brilliant solution to Creating mass without weight.

So, creating these large, Flowing, beautiful shapes

Is actually Quite challenging,

Because if any of you have Ever tried creating

That shape just on A pottery wheel,

You know, that size, It's really hard.

You're trying to use form work And molds to create this.

You need to change the way The mold fits the higher you go,

So that you get Your curvy shape.

You're at a height, As well,

You're at a height, As well,

And you're trying to Pour concrete down here.

And then, think about doing All of that without computers.

You're basically sitting there With a pencil

And a piece of paper, Working out what you need to do,

And then doing it On this really grand scale.

Narrator: the plant starts Operating in 1921.

Hot water from The plant's machinery

Is blasted into the tower Through its central vent.

It's collected In hundreds of shallow channels

It's collected In hundreds of shallow channels

Designed to increase Its surface area

And lower Its temperature rapidly,

And with extreme economy.

*

They're using this principle That hotter air is less dense,

And therefore, lighter, And cooler air is more dense,

And therefore, heavier.

And so, what happens In these towers

Is that the hot air rises up and The cool air stays at the base.

And the shape here helps,

And the shape here helps,

And gives it a bit of An aerodynamic quality

To allow this flow to happen Very smoothly.

Narrator: by the early 20th century,

The new plant and its tower Successfully power

A huge industrial expansion In belgium.

But engineers at the time Have no idea

That hanging over its future Are two deadly byproducts.

The coal-powered plant produces Alarmingly high co2 levels,

The coal-powered plant produces Alarmingly high co2 levels,

And lurking in the channels of The tower is a killer disease.

Inside a cooling tower, It's warm, and it's damp.

And at the exact temperature, In those conditions,

They can become A breeding ground

For legionnaires' disease, Which can be fatal.

Narrator: Though no one dies,

The tower continues to operate Effectively for 50 years.

But by 2007, the buildup Of carbon dioxide emissions

But by 2007, the buildup Of carbon dioxide emissions

From the charleroi plant Rises to the incredible level

Of 10% of the co2 In belgium,

Which are Unacceptable levels,

So it is forced To close down.

Too unsafe and contaminated To be repurposed,

The site lies abandoned.

*

Today, the futuristic appearance Still amazes the few people

Today, the futuristic appearance Still amazes the few people

Prepared to penetrate its Daunting maze of concrete beams.

It is now being preserved As a icon of design

For future generations.

After decades Of being seen

As a piece of industrial Engineering,

Its beauty has actually Shone through,

And that's the reason They now want to keep it.

Narrator: already nearly A century old,

Narrator: already nearly A century old,

Power plant I.M. And its iconic cooling tower

Show that, when engineers Get a design right,

It becomes timeless.

For me, I just love The mathematical

And structural perfection That these towers represent.