Amery Island

Amery Island is a Polarian state situated 85 kilometres off the coast from Wilkes and Ciudad Vieja. The Amery economy is heavily dependent on mining and hydroelectricity. It is reputed for generating nuclear energy, which is later converted to electricity for much of Eastshield and South Pole City. Amery Island generates over 18 GW of power every year. The island has a population of 680,000, with its capital and largest city being Larsen,at 410,000.

Until June 2018, the island was a territory of Polaris. It retained a Resident-General, as an appointed representative of the federal government alongside an elected 27-member House of Delegates. As a civilian territory, it is subject to Polarian common law, and had a Territorial Court of Justice.

As a result of a popular referendum conducted on February 3, 2018, 91% of Amery voters consented to the Amery Statehood Act, which effectively assented Amery from territory to state. Arrangements for division of assets, responsibilities and revenue between federal and state authorities was negotiated under the terms of the Tanagoya Report.

Amery Island was transferred from Antarctican jurisdiction to Polaris in 2011 under the Larsen City Treaty, albeit with reduced electricity rates for Antarctican customers, particularly in Eastshield.

History
Amery Island was first discovered in 1650 by mercantilist Friedrich Jungels, who organized the first expedition of the island in search of minerals such as gold and silver. The expedition, organized through the Company of Marine Ventures did not discover any gold or silver, though journals obtained form the expedition note a "an abundance of gleaming emerald", that was found to be of little value to primitive Antarctic trade. It was only in the 20th century that this substance was verified to be uranium ore.

Amery Island would lay uninhabited for nearly three centuries, often hosting fishermen or sailors seeking rest. Attempts at colonization in the mid 19th century squandered with a lack of arable land available, with the first colony, Larsen Town, having dwindled from a population of 275 settlers to a mere 75 over the course of four years.

The island was not widely settled until the mid-20th century with the advent of nuclear fission, and the desire for uranium ore. It was then that industrial mining operations for uranium began under the Antarctic Atomic Materials Corporation (AAMC), a government joint-venture formed in 1951. Processing and refinement operations initially took place on mainland Antarctica, though beginning in 1968, an investment from the Water Kingdom government provided for the creation of two refinement facilities. This also resulted in the migration of many nuclear professionals and workers to the island, who resided primarily in Larsen Town, a re-establishment of the failed colonial settlement abandoned a century earlier.

Most uranium processing went towards the production of medical isotopes and weaponry until 1971, with the formation of the Amery Island Power Generation Corporation (AIPGC), which built the first nuclear power generation facility on the island, Port Oberbel Generation & Research Station eighteen kilometres from Larsen City, with two reactors that primarily supplied electricity to Larsen City, and provided scientists with a remote facility to study and conduct tests related to nuclear energy. In 1972, planning began for the construction of a new underground nuclear power generation facility on the island.

Port Oberbel was eventually decommissioned in 1986 following a safety injunction issued by the Water Kingdom government. This coincided with the completion construction of the first commercial nuclear facility--Cape Durrant in the same year, following five years of planning following by nine years of excavation and construction.

Under an agreement reached between the Antarctican and Polarian governments in 2011, under the Larsen City Accords, Polaris was transferred jurisdiction over the island in exchange for the expansion of the nuclear facilities and the provision of extremely low-cost electric power to the United States for thirty years following the ratification of the treaty.

History
In 1988, the first commercial nuclear power generation facility, the Wilkes Point Nuclear Facility was built to supply electric power to Northwestern Eastshield, namely the cities of Polaris, Penguville,Snowville, which were growing metropolitan areas. All three cities, and their surrounding municipalities passed ordinances banning electric power plants, mostly nuclear and coal-fired plants, as the threat of a nuclear accident, or a power-plant explosion could be imminent. Looking for a replacement, the state of Eastshield finally agreed on a sole location, Amery Island. The island at the time was barren and parched, and remained uninhabited. It was an ideal area for the placement of a nuclear power plant. However, a surprise came upon the researchers, which was the discovery of uranium ore on the island.

Under the Gerkins-Dufferton Plan published in 1986, a plan to construct eighteen reactors, enough to power a myriad of homes and offices in the Polaris SAD and the west of Eastshield by 2006 was put into place. There was enough uranium to last for 65 years, and mining of this ore, and processing is still done today. A settlement for the island's workers, called Larsen City for Andre Larsen, the scientist who originally discovered the uranium ore on the island. The 18-reactor nuclear power facility was and is still today the largest nuclear power facility in the continent. The reactors were built underground, to avoid a disastrous nuclear accident. The power plant cost 8.6 billion Fish to construct over a seven-year period. The reactors are organized invidually in columns of six, and rows of three. The reactors were placed 105 ft. below the rocky surface, with a three-story administrative office above ground. Tanks abreast to the administrative office provide much-needed oxygen to the 486 employees who attend to the 18 reactors.

Current operations
Nuclear power generation on Amery Island the primary source of electric power for Polaris, New Delphis, and Eastshield. Combined the facilities produce 234 T-h annually, providing power to the equivalent of more than 500 million homes. Power generation is supplied to the mainline through twelve undersea power cables that traverse the 37 kilometers from Amery Island to the mainland. These are complemented with several transformation stations on the mainland that distribute the power across the Antarctic grid.

Power generation is administered by the Amery Nuclear Energy Administration, a federal agency overseeing power generation and distribution policies, programs, and agreements. The agency reports to the Department of Energy in Polaris City, and is headquartered in Larsen. A separate agency, the Amery Extraction Commission, regulates mining and refinement activities for uranium and other radioactive materials in Amery.

Amery Island has ten nuclear power stations, with fifty-three active reactors. The largest of these stations, Cape Durrant Nuclear Facility, constructed in 1991, with twenty reactors on-site. By statute, all stations are situated adjacent to the coast for easy access to cooling water, used to store worn uranium rods. The used nuclear rods are stored beneath the reactors, in a large pool of water. The reactors, as they are located beneath ground have to be cooled using a central air conditioning system, which uses 110,000 KW of power per year.

Nuclear power generation facilities

 * Ashton Nuclear Generation Station [1992]
 * Cape Durrant Nuclear Generation Facility [1997]
 * Dornsley Nuclear Generation Station [1996]
 * Harris-Gorbell Nuclear Generation Facility [2001]
 * Lunaris Memorial Nuclear Generation Station [2005]
 * Newell West Nuclear Generation Station [1989]
 * Newell East Nuclear Generation Station [1991]
 * Sandwood Forest Nuclear Generation Station [1998]
 * Searle Beach Nuclear Generation Facility [2006]
 * Wilkes Point Nuclear Generation Station [1988]

Government and politics
Like all Polarian states, Amery Island has an elected Governor and Assembly that operates through the principle of responsible government. It has an appointed Lieutenant-Governor, which is a largely ceremonial role, but helps manage constitutional crises. All states exercise power under the terms of the Constitution of Polaris; the Polaris Federation Act was amended in 2018 to accord this authority to Amery. Revenues from state businesses are split between federal and state entities. The federal government provides transfer payments to all states to ensure an equitable living standard across all of Polaris.

The current Governor is Lawrence Craydon, the leader of the Amery Island Democratic Party, which holds 22 of the 32 seats in the Assembly, followed by the Amery Island Socialist Party at 8 seats, and Amery Island Green Alliance at 2 seats. Governor Craydon was appointed as Governor following the resignation of Winetta Kristoff to run as Amery Island's congressional delegate in the Polaris general elections, 2016, and received re-election in the state by-elections in 2018. The current Lieutenant Governor is Patricia W. Lavrett, appointed in 2015 by President Nathaniel B. Kratz.

Amery Island is represented in Congress by two Senators and four Representative, who were elected in a statewide by-election on July 25, 2018.

Senate

 * Amery’s 1st senatorial district: Frank Povallen (PDP)
 * Amery’s 2nd senatorial district: Stilton Soo (PDP)

Assembly

 * Larsen Centre: Ana Pinchbeck (SP)
 * Larsen—Gilvray Hill: Orson Oster (PDP)
 * Newell—Cape Arlett: Francesca Morelli–Teton (PDP)
 * Compass Bay—Searle Beach: Ian Demasse (PDP)

Economy
The economy of Amery Island is largely dependent on the electricity, mining, and services industries. The island boasts a GDP of $59.68 billion dollars as of 2016. The Amerian labour force is divided between the mining (36%), electricity (30%), manufacturing (10%), and services industries (17%), with a significant amount of it originating from migrants from the Polarian mainland.

The nuclear industry remains predominant on Amery Island, and is manifest through the mining operations, ore refinement and processing plants, medical isotope processing facilities, and nuclear power generation facilities. This has also allowed for the growth of research and development laboratories on the island, notably the Antarctic Nuclear Research Facility (ANRF), and the Polarian Nuclear Medicine Research Center.

Road
The main arterial highway in Amery Island is the P-745, which runs in a loop around the island. The highway is eight-laned, with three lanes on each carriageway. The highway, however, widens to ten-lanes 0.4 miles prior to the Airport Rd. Exit, and closes back to eight-lanes after Larcee Blvd's exit, four miles west. Highways are the main means of transporting construction machines and building materials, which help fuel and maintain the power plants on the island. The roads in Amery are managed by the Amery Island Highway Commission, which is federally-funded agency, that was established prior to Polarian rule of the island.

Sea
The Port of Larsen City is the main gateway for sea traffic arriving at Amery Island. Refined petroleum and diesel fuels arrive in the port daily via tankers. Produce, food and other materials also arrive via cargo vessels, as do other commodities such as computers and construction machines. The Port of Larsen City is the busiest on the island, as it is the only active port on the island as of 2011. The Port occupies 4.4 sq miles, and is laden with cargo containers and cranes. The Polaris Ministry of Transportation, Amery Island Port Authority, a successor to the former privatized AmPort Authority. Passenger and car ferries are also a popular means of transportation. There are ferries to Ciudad Vieja, Polaris City, Snowville and Penguville, and seasonally, Puerto Elanor provided by MetroFerries and PolarisFerries.

Air
Amery Island is served by one airport, Amery Island International Airport. Amery Island Internationa Airport was built in 1993, and had it's facilities streneously renovated in 2008-2009, and currently houses a seven-gate airport terminal, built in a high-tech design. The airport has two runways, which are both over 10,000 feet in length. The Polarian government currently funds the airport, with $ 34.7 million Fish given to the airport each year. The airport in it's history has never experienced any incidents or accidents whatsoever. Seven airlines, serve the airport daily, with 24 flights departing daily. Across the runway from the terminal is an Antarctic Air Force installation, housing 7 bombers and 17 fighter jets. Cargo mail arrives through the airport, but only in small numbers.