Now open to tourists, the China 816 Nuclear Military Plant is a decommissioned Cold War-era plutonium and weapons processing facility buried in the Chongqing mountains.
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Nuclear backdrop —
Visitors first enter a concrete cavern the size of a football field. Walls display images of atomic weapons, plutonium processing and a fiery orange atomic mushroom cloud.
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Radioactive hues —
Avant-garde green lighting in several areas highlights where radioactive processing occurred. Anything that might have been radioactive is encased in protective glass.
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Reactor meters —
Visitors to China 816 Nuclear Military Plant pass through rooms filled with reactor meters and Cold War-era history displays.
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Off limits —
Not all of the 104,000 square meter facility, filled with 18 caves and 130 tunnel roads, is open to tourists.
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Where's the DJ? —
Visitors could be forgiven for thinking they've stepped into a massive nightclub.
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Out of commission since 1984 —
Construction on the plant commenced in 1967. According to government figures, more than 60,000 soldiers worked on it for 17 years before it was shut down in 1984.
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Well worth the trip —
The 816 tour mixes fascinating scientific facts with dramatic history to provide an exhilarating experience.
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816 exit —
Final halls in the plant resemble gigantic mine tunnels with 200-foot ceilings cut out of rock and lit with white lights.
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Mock bomb —
Children pose in front of a life-size replica of China's first atomic bomb, which was detonated during a nuclear test in 1964.
