Determinación ACV para las distintas mezclas

Travelling southeast from Bergen to Odda with car one catches a glimpse of the hydro power plant in Tyssedal on the east bank of Sørfjorden before arriving in Odda. Driving along the winding county road along Sørfjorden, the northern perimeter of the Folgefonna national park lies to the west and the steep mountains of Tyssedal to the east. Hidden from view are the vast water reservoirs on the mountain plateau which provided enough affordable energy to transform Tyssedal and Odda into industrial towns. The view of mountains and the bright turquoise fjord is suddenly interrupted by the large zinc smelting plant of Boliden at

Eitrheimsneset. This zinc smelter replaced farm lands and fruit orchards in the late 1920s and

it is still in operation. A short drive later the town of Odda and the smelter site appears. It is not difficult to see why it has caused such dissent.

Figure 4.1 - The southern end of the smelter site as of September 2010. Lime kilns in the front and the red carbide furnace in the far back. Today the fences have been removed along with most of the buildings.

It covers about twenty-two acres and occupies a substantial part of the central town area, probably about one third of the town. The smelter sits between the main road and the river Opo which constitutes the eastern perimeter of the site. A pedestrian shopping street

constitutes the boundaries of the site to the west. To the north, next to the estuary of the river, an import harbor is located where raw materials used in production arrived.

The site consists of a large range of buildings serving the three production lines of products carbide, cyanamide and dicyanamide. The cluster of buildings in the northern section hails from the early years of operation (1907-1912). These buildings are mainly brick stone-clad buildings and relate to the production of cyanamide. In addition to the main plant of the cyanamide production some smaller buildings are also located in the northern section. These

buildings leave an unobtrusive impression because of their fairly modest scale. They used to host facilities such as offices, workshops, a smithy and the factory showers. Most of these buildings have been reused for public cultural purposes or by small-scale entrepreneurs. A house of literature has been established in the bath house and the smithy currently hosts a science center run by the Museum of Hydropower and Industry. Further south a range of larger and more technical structures covered with steel plates offered a sharp contrast to the rustic appeal of older brick stone buildings. A large modernization effort was carried out in the 1950s and a number of buildings on the southern end hail from this period. The lime kilns were also part of this modernization in the 1950s when they replaced a line of older kilns. The vast shell roof structure where raw materials like lime and coke were stored before it was processed into carbide is designed in a clean modernist style and has been preserved.

Figure 4.2 - The raw material storage and reloading area, photo by NVIM/Bj. Eidnes AS, 1959.

The most striking structure of the entire site is a huge red building is located in the center of the site. The exteriors give away no hint of the central position it held in the production and why it was listed despite its young age. It was built in 1976 and it stores the largest carbide

furnace in the world. It was active for 25 years and production started in 1982 (Holme and Grønn 2011).

Figure 4.3 - Exterior shot of the house of furnace III. Built in 1976 and in operation from 1982, the furnace was listed in 2011 on the basis of technological importance. The red metal sheets store a furnace which was once the largest of its kind in the world.

This closed structure, clad on all four sides with steel plates meant a reduction of emissions.

Two adjacent furnaces from the 1930s and 1950s respectively were demolished in 2008. This meant diminishing the legibility of the carbide production line. Similar to a large number of other structures they have been cleared from the site and we are left with only a very partial impression of the smelter. Production equipment has also been dismounted and sold abroad.

Parts of the chemical production facilities were resurrected in Dawukou, China where the second largest producer of Cyanamide in the world is currently located.

Visiting the site in September of 2010, I noticed how the lime kilns had suffered from long-time neglect. Pending a final decision on the extent and form of preservation on the smelter site, the site was at the time caught in a deadlock between lofty ambitions of re-use for cultural tourism and a resolute down-to-earth pragmatism which questioned the viability of the heritage scheme. The condition of the structures at the time seemed like an apt reflection of the political standstill and indecision. Weeds and birch trees were clinging to the structure and the red sheet metal had turned grey over the years.

Figure 4.4 - Lime kilns

As I soon learned, there had for a long time been difficulties in agreeing on a plausible model for re-use of the buildings and not least find ways to finance such re-use. Industrial production in Odda paved the way for prosperity and high levels of municipal welfare, especially in the

post-war era when a hospital, a library and a cinema was established in the small town. Today however the municipal budgets do not offer the leeway for acquiring and maintaining all of the listed buildings on the site. Most of the buildings that are currently listed were sold cheaply in August of 2007 to a private enterprise called Smelteverket Næringsutivkling AS.

The enterprise has been critical of extensive listing as it allegedly undermines the

development of new business activity on the site. The listed buildings are still to a large extent owned privately by property developers. This means that the level of maintenance of historic buildings often reflects the ambitions or the financial abilities of the owner. The level of neglect in 2010 was more than anything a demonstration of political limbo and the uncertainty about the extent of the preservation plan.