LONGYEARBYEN, Norway - It's been dubbed a Noah's Ark for plant life and built to withstand an earthquake or a nuclear attack.
Dug deep into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, the "doomsday" vault is designed by Norway to protect the world's seeds from global catastrophe.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a backup to the world's 1,400 other seed banks, was to be officially inaugurated in a ceremony today on the northern rim of civilization attended by about 150 guests from 33 countries.
The frozen vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples from around the globe, shielding them from climate change, war, natural disasters, and other threats.
"There are not many countries in the world that could have pulled this off," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, a partner in the project.
Norway's government owns the vault in Svalbard, a frigid archipelago 620 miles from the North Pole. The Nordic country paid $9.1 million for construction, which took less than a year. Other countries can deposit seeds for free and reserve the right to withdraw them upon need.
The operation is financed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which was founded by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Biodiversity International, a Rome-based research group.
It was about 5 degrees outside as reporters were allowed in yesterday for a sneak peak. But it was colder inside. Giant air conditioning units have chilled the vault to just below zero, a temperature at which specialists say many seeds could survive for 1,000 years.
Inside the concrete entrance a roughly 400-foot-long tunnel of steel and concrete leads to three separate 32- by 88-foot chambers where the seeds will be stored.
The first 600 boxes with 12 tons of seeds already have arrived, Norwegian Agriculture Minister Terje Riis-Johansen said. The seeds are in foil packets and will be placed on shelves in the vault.
