‘Doomsday’ Vault Design Unveiled

The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world’s agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008. The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

This vault is actually quite interesting. It’s built deep inside of a mountain and will require no full-time staff. In fact, they mention that once up and running, it will only require one person a year to “check up” on things, but that’s all. It’s also quite far north of Norway, so it wouldn’t be affected by any potential nuclear war.

Source: BBC News