“Unraveling the Mysteries: How Fire, Ice, and Plutonium Could Redefine Our Understanding of the Universe”
The delegates also had to decide what to do with the hundreds of tons of contaminated snow and ice that would be collected in the cleanup operation. The initial plan called for it to be melted, the contaminants filtered out, and the decontaminated water returned to the environment, but this was rejected as too expensive. Instead, the Americans proposed storing the contaminated water in oil drums and burying them in permafrost just outside the base. This, too, was rejected – this time by the Danes – so a compromise was reached whereby the drums would be temporarily stored at Thule and gradually transported back to the United States for disposal.
With an agreement hammered out, the enormous task of decontaminating the crash site could finally begin. The operation, officially codenamed Project Crested Ice but nicknamed “Dr. Freezelove” was placed under the command of USAF General Richard Hunziker. A large base of operations dubbed Camp Hunziker was built next to the crash site, with dormitory huts, radio communications facilities, latrines, generators, and a heliport. In addition to nearly 700 military and civilian personnel, large numbers of Greenland Inuit were also recruited. They not only participated in the cleanup operations themselves but also constructed igloos at Camp Hunziker and provided dog sled transport to and from the crash site until a pair of ice roads could be completed. As General Hunziker later remarked:
“…one of man’s most technically complex endeavours had gone astray and that recovery from its effects must depend upon the most primitive of methods.”
