Doomsday seed vault upgraded to avoid flooding

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) in Norway is about to undergo several system upgrades including a new tunnel,International Business TimesThe entrance is built directly under the Arctic permafrost and maintains a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius.

The upgrades are estimated to cost close to $13 million. The vault’s original construction cost in 2008 was $9 million. Changing weather conditions have affected the vault. Last year, the permafrost surrounding the vault began to melt, causing SGSV to partially flood the entrance. The upgrades are designed to prevent this from happening again.

"The project includes the construction of a new concrete entrance tunnel as well as a building to house emergency generators, refrigeration units and other electrical equipment that radiates heat through the tunnel. The project helps ensure that the seed vault will be an insurance source for food supplies for future generations," said Jon Georg Dale, Norway's Minister of Agriculture.

SGSV acts as a plant bank. Here, seeds from every country in the world are stored so that they can be replanted in the event of a global catastrophe. Disease, global warming or nuclear war could wipe out large swaths of land and their crops.

Opened in 2008, the Svalbard seed vault acts as a giant refrigerator for countries to preserve valuable crops. It holds more than 850,000 samples of seeds provided by countries.