|
 In
an abandoned gravel pit on the outskirts of the small Ontario farming
community of Carp (just west of Ottawa) strange things were happening.
It was 1959 and over the next two years this site was to be transformed
into one of Canada’s primary Cold War secret defence facilities.
A few months earlier Prime Minister John Diefenbaker had
risen in the House of Commons to make the announcement that:
“…development
of a decentralized federal system of emergency government with central,
regional and zonal elements would proceed” (Hansard, Aug 21, 1958)
Mr.
Diefenbaker went on to describe the basic principles of what came to be
known as the Continuity of Government Program. These principles in
effect set up a framework for the protection and support of key
government elements in case of massive nuclear attack on North America.
Small numbers of elected federal and provincial representatives along
with supporting officials were to be included in this program. While
generally calling for these people to be evacuated from risk areas
and to be able to be operate on a decentralized basis, there was a
recognition of Ottawa’s particular vulnerability to direct attack by a
manned bomber carrying up to a five megaton nuclear weapon and the need
for some degree of protection against blast and the other direct effects
of such a weapon. Over the next decade a system of up to 50 protective
shelters was put in place across the nation.
The Department of National Defence was given responsibility to
construct and operate seven of the most sophisticated of these shelters.
The facility at Carp was the “flagship” as it was also to be
resistant to high levels of blast ( the equivalent of 5 million tons of
TNT exploding at about a mile away) compared to the all of others which
were only designed to be proof against fallout. Shelter in the Central
Emergency Government Facility was to be provided for 535 people for up
to 30 days
The
Diefenbunker, as it came to be known colloquially, was designed and
constructed by Foundation Company of Montreal.
Construction was supervised by the army, with LCol Ed Churchill,
(Royal Canadian Engineers) as the project manager. Of a number of
significant technical achievements accomplished in realizing this
project, two are particularly notable.
 Firstly
due to the lack of a suitable, nearby massif of hard rock, the then usual
approach to building a shelter to resist the direct effects of a nuclear
weapon which consisted of tunnelling into and hollowing out a granite
mountain could not be followed. Instead
the designers built a monolithic heavily reinforced high strength
concrete “box” and surrounded it with a 5-foot thick pad of
compacted, well-drained gravel. The
facility’s roof and base slabs are 5foot thick and are 154 feet on a
side. Thirty-six 4.5- foot
diameter columns at 22 feet centers carry the blast load from the roof
slab through four levels to the base. The
column shear heads and bases flare out to 10 feet diameter and are
specially reinforced with thick steel plates welded to large rolled
steel H-sections that run down the center of each column. The walls of
the building range from 2.5 feet to over 4 feet thick.
This strength as needed to ensure that the facility could survive a 5-megaton ground detonation at 1.1 miles from ground zero. At
such a distance the blast over pressure would have been over 100-psi and
the “wind” passing over the structure would have exceeded 1000mph!
The second significant achievement concerns the project management
technique used to bring the project in
on time and on budget. A “handrualically” operated version of the
then
new Critical Path Method - CPM (a graphical network analysis tool had
first been used
by the US Navy to build nuclear submarines) was used extensively to
control the very complicated materials and labour “flow” in the
confined spaces of the facility. In the early 1960s CPM had only
recently been added to the training of Young Officers courses at the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering
in Chilliwack, BC. A few
years later CPM had evolved considerably, becoming much more
sophisticated eventually being replaced by other project resource
control systems (such as PERT). In any case CPM was used with great
success during the construction of the Carp bunker.
Over 32,000 tons of concrete and 5000 tons of reinforcing steel (much of
it reinforcing bars of 2 ¼ inch diameter!) were used in constructing the main
facility at Carp and the transmitter site 20 miles away in a similarly
constructed but much smaller building near Perth, Ontario.
At one time over 1000 workers were employed on the site. The
project cost $20 million (not including the special electronic
telecommunications equipment installed in 1962-3).
 While
not a special innovation of this project, the constricted spaces within
the bunker led the designers to borrow a technique used frequently by
ship designers of the day. They constructed a very accurate and detailed
large-scale model of the facility. This enabled them to fit-in all of
the intricate plumbing, ducting, cabling and machinery required to
support the environmental and functional equipment necessary for the
operation of the facility. The model was a main “feature“ of the
Station Officer’s lounge during the 33 years that of CFS Carp’s
operational existence. It
remains a popular exhibit for visitors to the museum to view during
their tour of the facility, enabling them to acquire a better
comprehension of the structure as a whole.
Originally the project was known as Project EASE (for Experimental Army
Signals Establishment). While
there was a grain of truth to this, the title was primarily a cover to
obfuscate its real purpose; that of being a place for small group of
federal government elected and selected supporting officials (535
civilian and military) to survive and to attempt to carry on governing
the nation even in the face of a nuclear attack on the continent.
In reality it was a very badly kept secret. A local journalist
flew over the stores layout area and counted the toilets (still in their
packing cases in the stores layout area), and concluded that 78
for
the 150 men that were supposed to use the building for its stated
purpose, was a bit odd! He published his conclusions in a Toronto newspaper much to the
extreme annoyance of Prime Minister Diefenbaker who at this stage in the
construction was trying to down play his government’s role in such
matters as much as possible.
In reality the bunker was part of an extensive system of shelter
facilities for various levels and elements of government across the
Canada. Most provinces
eventually had what were called “Bridge” sites where shelter from
radioactive fallout was provided for 250 and 350 provincial and federal
officials (including military experts). They would have been responsible
for directing efforts to coordinate survival operations in support of
that province’s people.
Throughout its years of operation the Carp bunker (and many of the bridge
sites) also served an alternate and very much a complementary (to its
main purpose) role; that of a main node in the military national
strategic telecommunication’s system. While doing this DND also
maintained the various facilities in a reasonable state of readiness
and, in concert with their civil defence and emergency measures
counterparts, tried to ensure that they would be ready for the
government should they ever be needed
Civil emergency preparedness officials ceased their responsibilities in
the bunker in the fall of 1992 and the DND decommissioned the Carp site
in December of 1994. The
original plan seems to have been to strip the building of anything
useful and then seal it. Fortunately officials of West Carleton
Township, urged on by a group of local volunteers took a good look at
the potential of the facility from the viewpoint of its historic value.
The township acquired the site and all of its structures (along with
some environmental cleanup obligations) for under $300,000.
Unfortunately by the time the paperwork was done, most of the interior
furniture and equipment had been removed and sent to the dump or Crown
assets for disposal. On the other hand, happily, efforts made to
acquire similar furniture from some of the other DND bunker facilities
have been successful. This furniture and equipment is being used to
recreate many of the rooms, operational spaces and special offices that
were part of the bunker during most of its operational life.
Part of the station’s
original 80 acres have been converted into a baseball diamond. A
recently completed exterior Construction Engineering
building (completed
just two years before the facility was closed) has been renovated as the
local library. In June of 1998 the
bunker and some of the land surrounding it was declared a National
Historic Site by Heritage Canada. Unfortunately this honour does not
come with actual funding but the moral and advice support is quite
helpful. While the bunker
was acquired from the township by the same small group of dedicated
volunteers for about $3.00 (CDN), its electrical bill alone runs over
$3500 per month (not to mention all of the other maintenance expenses
required to keep a 100,000 sq. ft. four story underground building
operating in a manner that provides comfort and safety to the occupants
and protects its valuable artifact and archival contents. Fortunately
public tours have been quite successful to date, providing 75%
of the revenue needed to keep things going. The City of Ottawa also
helps with a $50,000 annual grant. That, in concert with the fact that
a few of the civil staff who managed the building’s environmental and
telecommunications systems during its operational years and who have
since retired have been a great help in maintaining and operating the
facility. Recently there has been an influx of volunteers with the right
motivation and skill sets. As well a full time Curator and assistant
have greatly added to the long-term viability of the Museum
.
Last year over 25,000 people took two-hour guided tours of the building
and seemed to really quite enthralled by their experience. Ages ranged
from 8 to 80. Many of the building’s areas are being restored to
something like their operational condition (the PM’s Suite, the
Emergency Government Situation Centre, the
CBC Emergency Broadcasting Studio, the Military Federal Warning Centre,
the External Affairs Ministerial Office, the Public Works Minister's
Office and the Bank of Canada Vault, to name a few). Other
of its 358 rooms have been converted to relevant exhibits of the Cold
War era, including Civil Defence Shelters and the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima with many more in the works as time, expertise and funds
permit. Our goals include educating the present and future generations
about the Cold War as well as (eventually) providing artefact and
archival material for future researchers. At Present we have over 3000
books in our nascent library plus rooms full of yet-to-be-sorted files,
photos, blueprints and other documents from the Cold War era.
We are learning to “partner” extensively with government agencies
(i.e. Heritage/Parks Canada, National Defence) educational institutions
(i.e. Algonquin College) and a number of private sector firms who have
supported us with some funding, advice, materials and equipment. As well we benefit greatly from our group of willing and able
volunteers who devote countless hours to keeping the whole project
going. We do need more help especially with respect to hands-on building
operation and maintenance, archives and library duties and with the
construction of exhibits.
If you would like to learn more about the Diefenbunker or would like to
look into becoming a volunteer or have knowledge that we should acquire
for our archives please contact the Diefenbunker at 613 839-0007 or 1
800 409-1965. And don’t
forget to check out our web site at www.diefenbunker.ca!
Bruce's note: I actively sought out
this story. It may seem to some as an advertisement for the
Diefenbunker and ... it is. A group of volunteers have got
together to preserve and display an important part of our heritage that many of us
have forgotten or just not known. Visit the bunker, volunteer to
help them or support them with donations. This place deserves our
support. Thanks to Dave and the Board at the Diefenbunker.
 Do
you want to support the Bunker? Then visit or
purchase one of their many collectables including:
The ten -year Anniversary Calendar commemorating
the creation of Canada's Cold War Museum
Or you can purchase, "On Tour at the
Diefenbunker". This guide of the Bunker was written by Angie
Shepherd and is a must-have to understand the functioning of the
facility within Canada's planning for nuclear war in the mid 20th
century. To purchase any of these
items contact the Bunker at 613 839 0007 or email to
eduprograms@diefenbunker.ca
or pick them up in person when you visit the museum.
And finally, in a bit off self promotion,
watch for my new book, available in fall 2008. This, yet untitled,
mystery drama will take place in the Diefenbunker and the NORAD
Underground Complex and in the far Arctic of Canada. |
