816地下核工厂

816 Military Nuclear Plant

Useful Information

Location:	Baitao Town, Fuling District, Chongqing. (29.5567298, 107.5074325)
Open:	Only domestic visitors. [2010]
Fee:	Adults CNY 80, Children (<120 cm) free, Disabled CNY free, Deniors (65+) free, Military free. [2021]
Classification:	Secret Bunker Factory Underground City
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=20,000 m, Ar=104,000 m².
Guided tours:	D=2 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	816 Military Nuclear Plant, Baitao Town, Fuling District, Chongqing.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1966	beginning of construction.
1981	project temporarily postponed
1984	facility closed.
APR-2002	declassified.
OCT-2010	opened to the public.

Description

816 Military Nuclear Plant is a huge bunker built during the cold war. The construction began in 1966, authorized by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and for 17 years 60,000 soldiers built an underground bunker system which is said to be one of the biggest on the world. The construction site, like all big constructions, was dangerous, and so 56 soldiers died during the works.

The tunnels have a length of 20 km and an area of one square kilometer. The biggest chamber is the underground nucear power plant, which is an 80 m high underground dome as big as a soccer stadium. The bunker system was built to survive direct hits with atomic bombs and earthquakes of magnitude 8.0.

The construction was cancelled in 1984 by the Central Military Commission, a concession to international demilitarization attemts, and soon after, with the end of the cold war it became finally obsolete. It took some time until it was declassified by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense in 2002, and this made the recent opening to the public possible. However, as it is a military installation, there are serious restrictions. At the moment, only the underground power plant is accessible, and only to domestic visitors with the necessary certificates! However, the opening of further parts of the huge bunker system and the opening to foreign tourists are intended.

The site is intended as an educational site, concentrating on the topics national defense and nuclear science. Beneath the huge cavern there are tunnels, old-style computers and industrial process and control equipment. And of course, the discarded installations of a nuclear power plant. It also allows the locals a first glimpse behind the scenes of the so far extremely restrictive military. China plans to open more such plants in the future, to increase tourism.

Above description was written in 2011, at that time they were careful and opened it only for domestic tourists. Since the latest change in politics, which has become far more conservative, we guess this development was stopped. Nevertheless, the site is now published on many websites, like Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura, and trip.com, so it seems it is now open for foreign visitors. But as always with China, it is extremely difficult to get any facts.