On October 24, 1965, the prime minister received a call from ***, in which he did not say what happened, but just told *** to come to my office and discuss some things with you, and then *** hung up**.
**Know,** I must have something important to discuss with him in such a hurry, so after putting down the microphone, I hurriedly walked towards ***'s office...
**and***This meeting did not last very long, but it had an extremely far-reaching impact, and 60,000 people have mysteriously disappeared for 18 years.
So, what exactly was discussed in this meeting between ** and ***?What about the 60,000 people who went to ** again?
This story should be told from the international environment at that time.
October 16, 1964, Xinjiang, Lop Nur.
As the female timekeeper's countdown gradually ended, there was a loud noise in Lop Nur, and then a mushroom cloud more than 10,000 meters high rose, and China's first atomic bomb was successful. When *** knew about this, he asked *** to call Zhang Aiping several times to confirm whether it was really nuclear**, and it was not until Zhang Aiping repeatedly assured that it was true.
On the same day, 11 of the 13 intelligence observation stations set up by the United States around the world captured the electromagnetic pulse generated by the nuclear **, and the US Atomic Energy Commission concluded that the nuclear material of China's atomic bomb was uranium-225 after analyzing the radioactive fallout collected.
Immediately afterward, the world learned that China had detonated an atomic bomb using an advanced detonation technology.
Since the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations in 1959, reactionary forces such as imperialism, revisionism, and anti-China have jointly set off an anti-China chorus.
At that time, the Soviet Union, the former big brother, deployed millions of troops on China's northern border, and the United States, another superpower, not only announced from time to time that it would launch nuclear strikes against China, but also stepped up the pace of strategic encirclement of China.
It can be said that the **** of China's atomic bomb has given us the capital to make the US imperialists and Soviet repairers fearful.
However, it is worth noting that China's nuclear capabilities were extremely limited at that time. Moreover, the preparatory work for China's nuclear facilities, such as site selection, infrastructure, equipment, and technical training, was completed with the help and guidance of Soviet experts.
Although in 1960 Khrushchev ordered the withdrawal of all Soviet experts to aid China, the nuclear facilities could not be moved. Know that this situation has to change.
On October 24, 1965, after hesitating in the office for a long time, ** removed all the security personnel, then picked up the microphone and said: "Come to my office, there are some things to discuss with you." ”
After a while, the prime minister came to ***'s office, and after seeing ***, he said straight to the point: "I plan to build an underground nuclear Great Wall." ”
After that, ** and *** had a meeting with their voices lowered. The main content of this meeting is to "clone" a few new factories that produce nuclear weapons in China's third-tier areas.
The "big third-tier area" here roughly refers to the 13 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions located in the hinterland of China, mainly in the southwest and central regions, where there are Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Taihang Mountain, Dabie Mountain, Helan Mountain, Luliang Mountain and other mountain ranges as barriers, which is China's strategic rear.
After the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin triggered by the United States a year ago, ** specifically proposed to carry out third-line construction and relocate heavy industries from the eastern coastal and northeastern regions to the third-tier areas in order to deal with a possible war.
It can be said that the "three-line construction" is to prepare for a nuclear war, and it is specially instructed that the relocated factories should be "dispersed in large quantities and concentrated in small areas" and "set up large camps by mountains and rivers", so that even in the case of a nuclear war, they can not be defeated or dragged down, and continue production and scientific research in the rear to support the front line.
Obviously, the "underground nuclear Great Wall" that we intend to build is of extraordinary significance, and the purpose of our production of atomic bombs is not to fight a nuclear war with other countries, but only to deter the US imperialism and the Soviet Union, so that they will not dare to use force against us easily. Moving a nuclear plant whose approximate location the Soviet Union knew to be located somewhere unknown to the Soviets would greatly neutralize the enemy's nuclear deterrence, after all, the unknown is the most terrifying.
**After discussing the map for a while, the plan to build the "Underground Nuclear Great Wall" was officially decided.
The nuclear charge of an atomic bomb can be divided into two categories, one is uranium with a purity of more than 90%, and the other is plutonium. In general, the production of an atomic bomb with a 20,000-ton TNT equivalent requires about 15 kilograms of uranium, or about 5 kilograms of plutonium. Among them, plutonium does not exist in nature and needs to be produced by neutron irradiation in graphite pressurized water reactors.
Gansu Plant 404 is a nuclear plant that uses Soviet technology to produce plutonium.
According to the plan, ** will build a second nuclear material industrial base in the third-tier area, which will become a backup unit of Plant 404. Because of the importance of the matter, ** specifically put forward a requirement: "The new base must go into the cave by the mountain", and according to the need for secrecy, the project of the new base was named "816 Nuclear Project" (also known as 816 Plant).
In order to find a new site that meets the requirements of the first-class third-line construction, the experts of the 404 factory went to more than 90 sites in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei, Xinjiang and other provinces and autonomous regions, and worked out 17 plans, and submitted the site selection plan to the second Ministry of Machinery in 1966 after rigorous evaluation and demonstration.
After approval, the Second Machinery Department believed that the three new addresses finalized by the 404 factory could indeed meet the relevant regulations of the "three-line construction", so it reported to the first place.
After receiving the report of the Second Machinery Department, I quickly took it to find the two of them, and after discussion, they agreed to the new location of the 404 plant for the nuclear plant: Baitao Town, Fuling Prefecture, Sichuan Province (in the middle of Chongqing, Baitao Street, Fuling District, Chongqing City).
Baitao Town is located in the east of Sichuan, there is no highway with the outside world, next to the Wujiang River, "Jinzi Mountain" is sparsely populated, the mountain is lush and easy to hide, the mountain is mainly composed of limestone, the rock hardness is 8.
This is arguably the most ideal location for the construction of an underground nuclear plant. After the plutonium fuel rods are removed inside the reactor, they need to be immersed in water for more than a year to reduce radioactivity. The produced nuclear wastewater can be discharged into the Yangtze River through waterways. Because the Yangtze River is very large, the nuclear wastewater will not be harmful after dilution, and soon, ** agreed to the 816 nuclear project construction plan, because this is the "Tianzi No. 1 project", for the sake of insurance, "Baitao Town" and "Jinzi Mountain" The two place names disappeared on the official map of our country. In order to keep secret, the 816 factory is called "state-owned new machinery factory".
The first batch to be stationed in Jinzishan was the 8342 unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which was responsible for the excavation and restoration of the main project, and the construction company under the Ministry of Construction was responsible for the installation of internal process equipment and support projects in the follow-up work.
Although the number of Unit 8342 is only 1 place behind the famous Unit 8341 (** Guard Regiment), there is a big gap between Unit 8342 and Unit 8341, Unit 8342 is a special forces unit, formerly the 54th Division of the PLA Engineering Corps, mainly responsible for the construction of key projects such as missiles and nuclear ** in China.
Unit 8342 has 4 regiments and a division directly under the organ. The 4 regiments consist of 4 battalions, each with 4 engineer companies and a mechanized company. It can be said that Unit 8342 was the unit with the best construction technology and the most sophisticated equipment among the entire engineer units at that time.
After being transferred to the Chengdu Military Region as commander, General Liang Xing, former deputy commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, personally went to the Fuling area to take command of the project. When he saw the construction scene of Unit 342 with his own eyes, he couldn't help but praise it.
After General Liang Xing, former deputy commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, was transferred to the Chengdu Military Region as commander, he personally went to the Fuling area to take up the town, and when he saw the construction scene of Unit 342 with his own eyes, he could not help but be very surprised.
Unit 8342 began to march to "Jinzishan" in the second half of 1966, because there were too many preparatory work, and it was not officially started until August 1969. During this time, new recruits were constantly being added.
Of course, because of the special work, not all soldiers can be recruited, because it involves a secret project, so the political examination of recruits is extremely strict, and their ancestors and grandchildren must check it again to ensure that they are innocent before they can become a member of the "characteristic soldiers".
Because the numbers of Unit 8342 and Unit 8341 are too similar, many recruits also had a misunderstanding when they learned that they were going to Unit 8342 and felt that they were going to the top of the ** chief.
There was once a recruit soldier of Unit 8342, who was very excited when he got on the train and saw the train heading all the way north, heading towards Beijing. As a result, after seeing the train pass through Shijiazhuang, it suddenly turned around and drove south, only to know that it might not be to Beijing, and then the train crossed the Yellow River and the Yangtze River all the way to Chongqing.
Immediately afterwards, the soldiers got off the car, changed to a steamer, and went down the river all the way to Fuling Wharf. It was only then that the head of the receiving unit told them that this was where the troops were stationed.
After the recruits and soldiers arrived at the station, they first had to receive a three-month education, and the first class was to receive a confidentiality education, and all the contents related to the project were not allowed to take pictures, publicity, or reports, and even if they were discharged from the army, they would give you a card and ask for lifelong confidentiality.
After the construction officially started in 1969, there were daily buildings on the mountain.
Sixty or seventy companies were working in hundreds of work units at the same time, and at that time, the unit implemented a work system of "three shifts and four shifts, and people did not stop," and the machinery and equipment were non-stop 24 hours a day.
It is not an easy thing to open a mountain, Jinzi Mountain is a karst landform composed of limestone, there are many karst caves in it, sometimes just detonate TNT, suddenly a large amount of dark river water flows out of it, directly washing away the construction equipment.
In addition, sometimes when the mountain is opened, some soldiers who have no time to dodge are sacrificed, in addition, the soldiers will inevitably inhale a large amount of dust when opening the mountain, and many people suffer from silicosis.
At the same time, Chongqing is also one of the "three major furnaces in China" alongside Nanjing and Wuhan, and Jinzi Mountain, which is close to the Wujiang River, is very hot in summer, with high temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius common, and even the mats on the beds of the soldiers are hot.
After the autumn, the local area began to "have no three sunny days", basically there was a light rain every day, and the soldiers who had worked for a day washed their clothes, and they could not do it the next day, so they could only continue to work in wet clothes, and many people also suffered from ** disease.
In addition, the local cultural life is also extremely scarce, even watching the "three wars" ("Tunnel War", "Mine Warfare", "Southern Expedition and Northern War") has become a great enjoyment.
However, although the working conditions were very difficult, the whole division of Unit 8342 was full of enthusiasm. In order to speed up the progress of the project, Yao Jiajun, the commander of the 8342 unit, personally went to the 7th company of the 2nd battalion of the 125th regiment to study how to improve the speed and guide the workers to carry out their work.
After Yao Jiajun stayed in the company for more than a month, the company's excavation speed increased from 2 to 3 meters per day to more than 6 meters.
At the same time, the state is also aware of the arduous nature of the construction of this project, and the treatment of the construction personnel is also very good. As far as the tunnel construction troops are concerned, not only will an additional 30 yuan be issued as a confidentiality fee, and each person will be proudly provided with one and a half catties of grain per day, in addition, an additional 2 taels of grain will be subsidized during construction.
However, because Baitao Town is not connected to the highway and is far away from the urban area of Chongqing, even if it takes three and a half hours to take a jeep at the earliest. In order to keep secrets, the relevant departments also implemented control over the water and land transportation in Baishui Town, and at that time, it was a freight barge that was responsible for transporting supplies, and sometimes the supplies could not keep up, so the soldiers could only eat potatoes and other war-ready vegetables to satisfy their hunger.
At that time, what the fighters were looking forward to the most.
Eight. 1. On important festivals such as the National Day and the Spring Festival, the troops will improve their food in the past few days, not only will they kill pigs for everyone to eat, but the superiors will also give everyone fish to eat.
After eight years of day and night construction, the soldiers of Unit 8342 dug up as many as 1.51 million cubic meters of stone, and completed the construction of the main cavern, more than 30 branch caverns, and more than 100 connecting guide tunnels. It can be said that the fighters basically hollowed out the entire mountain.
In September 1974, nearly 10,000 construction personnel listened to the broadcast of the "816 Project Civil Installation Eleventh Cave Mobilization Conference" held in Beijing, and officially started the construction of the 816 Project civil installation project.
According to the relevant design, 17 of the 26 sub-projects in the 816 project are in the cave, and the layout of the cave is well-organized, some are high and some are low, and they are connected to each other through guide tunnels or branch tunnels. It can be said that if there is no relevant person to lead the way, people who do not know the situation in the cave will be completely disoriented not long after entering.
The civil installation in the cave is also very dangerous, at that time, in order to ensure that the project starts as scheduled, the construction technicians specially came up with a scheme to rely on the anchor rod of the cave wall to set up the scaffolding, and the construction personnel need to build two layers of suspended corridors on the wall of the cave at a height of thirty or forty meters, relying on the anchor rod. There is no natural light in the cavern, and the construction personnel can only rely on the not very bright lights to work, and the degree of danger can be imagined.
In the construction outside the cave, the water intake project is undoubtedly one of the most important projects, and whether it can be completed on time is an important part of the total construction period of the entire project.
The site where the pump house at the intake was originally a mud pond, and the construction of the pump house required manual cleaning of the silt before construction machinery could be installed in it. When everything was ready, the staff began to excavate the foundation pit by the cofferdam at the river's edge, and at the same time used a high-power pump to drain the incoming river water.
Unfortunately, not long after the start of construction, a flood came, which directly washed away the cofferdam, and the working face was flooded not long after the excavation.
According to the progress of the work, 22 companies were required to take the water intake project before the first flood in the spring and summer of 1975 arrived. To this end, in addition to the 24-hour shift work system, the superiors also specially mobilized all the units except the construction personnel in the cave, whether it is the company's leaders, government cadres, or the families of employees, one counts one, all of them are invested in the construction team.
In this way, after more than 4 months of active fighting, the construction personnel of 22 companies successfully poured 155 concrete in the water intake pump room within the specified timeThe elevation of 7 meters has completed the set goal.
During the construction period, 22 companies have mastered advanced technologies such as heavy concrete construction, hydraulic sliding formwork, and water-filled concrete wall construction. In 1979, the Second Machinery Department organized a quality inspection, and the pass rate of the 816 main project was as high as 94%, and the excellent rate also reached 515%。
After entering the 80s of the last century, peace and development have gradually become the development trend of the times, China's international environment has also been greatly improved, and the "nuclear cloud" shrouded in the sky over China has gradually dissipated.
Therefore, after careful consideration, a notice was issued in June 1982 requesting the "postponement of construction" of Project 816. Two years later, the Military Commission officially issued a notice of "suspension of construction".
In the 18 years to 1984, the state has allocated 74.6 billion project money, with the unremitting efforts of more than 60,000 people, 816 project has completed 85% of the construction project and 60% of the installation project, as long as another 100 million yuan is invested, the project can be fully completed within 1 year, but unfortunately, this great project has become history.
The 816 Project can be said to be the result of many people's efforts. Looking from the outside in, this Jinzi Mountain, which is close to the Wujiang River, is an endless dense forest except for two huge chimneys, and there is nothing unusual in it at all.
These two chimneys played an extraordinary role, in the late 60s and throughout the 70s, the southwestern hinterland of our country has been a key reconnaissance area for US imperialist and Kuomintang aircraft, and if they want to keep the secrets of the 816 factory, the engineers thought that they could use the chimneys.
As we all know, Sichuan is foggy, and the engineers of the 816 factory released water vapor through chimneys and ventilation equipment, so that Jinzi Mountain was surrounded by artificial fog all year round, and no trace could be seen outside.
Although it looks ordinary on the outside, the inside of "Gold Mountain" can be said to be "a cave in the sky". There used to be a 100-ton steel gate at the entrance of the cave, which was said to withstand the shock wave generated by the million-ton equivalent**.
The cave is divided into 11 floors, about the height of a 21-story building, and covers an area of 1040,000 square meters, 18 large caverns, of which the main cavern is as high as 796 meters, dome span 312 meters.
Around the cave, there are a total of 19 openings of different sizes, some of which are personnel entrances and exits, some are automobile transport holes, and some are drainage ditches or exhaust tunnels, which are very reasonably designed.
At the same time, the preparedness of the 816 project can be said to be very good, it can withstand the impact of 1 million tons of hydrogen bombs ** and the attack of 1000 tons of bombs, in addition, the project can also withstand the impact of level 8**. It can be said that the 816 project was the highest level of architectural design engineering construction in China and even in the world at that time.
After the construction of the 816 factory was suspended, the builders engaged in military scientific research and production in the factory had to grow mushrooms in the cave and raise chickens and vegetables on the mountain in order to survive. You must know that there is no shortage of talents who graduated from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and other famous universities majoring in physics and chemical engineering.
Fortunately, the "China Nuclear Industry Jianfeng Chemical General Plant", which was established after the restructuring of the 816 plant, successfully realized the transformation and avoided the fate of suspension and closure by relying on the large fertilizer project that it had won to achieve it.
On April 8, 2002, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense issued a declassification order for the 816 project, and the 816 underground nuclear project was officially opened to the outside world in the form of tourism products in April 2010, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the country to visit. The ingenious 816 project soon attracted a large number of tourists, and a landscape architect named Yu Kongjian even called it "worthy of competing with the Three Gorges Dam" and "buried deep in the mountains." ”
At the same time, the 816 Project, a project that carries the faith and loyalty of several generations, has also become a new national defense education base