at Contract -- The present contract provides for full reimbursementof costs and a fee. Total employment varies with workloads but as of mid-1953 there were 3, 800 employees (2, 600 hourly and 1, 200 salary) as compared with 1,451 in mid-1950. Burlington : Project Sugar (now Burlington plant) was activated in late 1947 to manufacture high explosive charges and to assemble mechanical componenjs. Plant rehabilitation, modifi- cation and construction of existing facilities began in October 1947, and first production of high explosive charges was on September 20, 1948. It is located at the Iowa Ordnance Plant, near Burlington, and is operated for the AEC by Army Ordnance by contract with SilasMason Company. Mission -- High explosives production and assembly. Burlington Field Office -- Was activated as a representative office on November 15, 1949, and as a field office on September 9, 1952. Personnel totaled 3 in 1950 and 17 in mid1953. The staff structure included: product acceptance, 10; production control, 2; and security, 5. : & , Several studies have been conducted during the past two years as to the position of Army Ordnance as a middleman between the AEC and the operating contractor, a situation duplicated at Pantex. As of mid-1953, the question had not been resolved. Meanwhile, both SFOO and Army Ordnance had sought to develop staffs which would complement each other and not establish, in effect, two duplicating management levels. . Physical Plant -- Total initial expenditure by the AEC for technical and housing facili- ties was valued at $13,000,000, Total plant value by mid-1953 was $25, 900, 000 including a $12, 700, 000 expansion of HE production facilities in 1950 and 1951, The plant is now Ordnance owned, as is the land. The equipment is AEC property. The AEC had contributed $394, 000 toward housing for Silas-Mason employees, with community operation by Army Ordnance, Contract -- AEC operates with Army Ordnance by a memorandum of understanding. The present Ordnance-Silas-Mason Companycontract continues through September 30, 1954, and provides for full reimbursement of costs and a fixed fee to Silas-Mason of $189, 600 for the current year, Army Ordnance had 10 persons assigned to the AEC operation in mid-1953, and Silas-Mason had 1, 249. Pantex Project Orange (now Pantex Plant) was activated on October 1, 1951, as an HE production and assembly facility. It is located on approximately 4, 275 acres of the Pantex Ordnance Plant 17 miles east of the Amarillo city limits in the Texas Panhandle. It is opera- ted for the AEC by Army Ordnance by contract with Procter & Gamble Defense Corporation, Mission -- HE production and assembly, C “ 50 Vy Pantex Field Office -- Was activated on October 1, 1951. Personnel totaled 23 in mid-1953. The staff structure included: Field manager's office, 2; administrative, 7; product acceptance, 10; and security, 4.