Norsk Hydro Rjukan
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Fate | Closed |
| Founded | 13 April 1907 |
| Defunct | 1 July 1991 |
| Headquarters | Rjukan, Norway |
| Products | Fertilizer |
|
Number of employees
|
1,760 |
| Parent | Norsk Hydro |
Norsk Hydro Rjukan is an industrial facility operated by Norsk Hydro at Rjukan in Tinn, Norway, from 1911 to 1991. The plant manufactured chemicals related to the production of fertilizer, initially potassium nitrate from arc-produced nitric acid and later ammonia, hydrogen, and heavy water. The location was chosen for its vicinity to hydroelectric power plants built in the Måna river.
30 million tonnes of products, equivalent of 1.5 million wagon loads, were produced in Rjukan. After the closing parts of the plants and the railway have been preserved.
The Telemark power-based industry adventure started in 1902 when Sam Eyde, along with Norwegian and Swedish investors, bought Rjukan Falls—establishing A/S Rjukanfos on 30 April 1903. The same year, on 13 February, Eyde and Kristian Birkeland had met and started working on refining the electric arc to produce an electric flame; allowing Eyde to complete his process of converting air and electricity into fertilizer. On 19 December 1903 Det Norske Kvælstofkompagni was founded, followed by Det Norske Aktieselskap for Eletrokemisk Industri (today Elkem) in 1904; both were in part owned by the Wallenberg family, and Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas.
The test plant for the Birkeland–Eyde process in Notodden started operation on 2 May 1905 as the first in the world to produce synthetic potassium nitrate. On 2 December 1905 Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvælstofaktieselskab (now Norsk Hydro) was founded, and plans to start a new plant in Rjukan were initialized; moving closer to the source of power would improve efficiency and not make it possible for the newly independent Government of Norway to hinder construction of hydroelectric power by foreign investors—a major political issue at the time. Rjukanfos applied for permission to build a power line from Rjukan to Notodden, but on 18 June 1907 the Norwegian Parliament did not accept the application—despite an offer from Eyde that the state would receive escheat after eighty years—in part because the state would have to guarantee NOK 18 million for the project.
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