Svalbard Global Seed Vault | warehouse, underground facility, seed store / shop

 warehouse, underground facility, seed store / shop

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault's mission is to provide a safety net against accidental loss of diversity in traditional gene banks. While the popular press has emphasized its possible utility in the event of a major regional or global catastrophe, it will certainly be more frequently accessed when gene banks lose samples due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts and natural disasters.
The Nordic Gene Bank has stored a backup of Nordic plant germplasm as frozen seeds in an abandoned coal mine at Svalbard since 1984. The Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) has deposited more than 10,000 seed samples of more than 2,000 cultivars of 300 different species over the years.
Locally mined coal provides power for refrigeration units that further cool the seeds to the internationally-recommended standard −20 to −30 °C (−0 to −20 °F).[3] Even if the equipment fails, at least several weeks will elapse before the temperature rises to the −3 °C (30 °F) of the surrounding sandstone bedrock.