CHAPTER |, SECTION 1
materials at all points, it was possible to decrease substantially the normal time required

With the firming up of the requirements of the

Operation, a rapid mobilization was effected

fabrication, but it was possible to re-fabricate

through recruiting offices in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, San Diego, Fresno and Honolulu.
From the effective date of OPERATION

All materials, supplies and equipment were

1954, a total of 3257 Travel Orders were processed covering single and multiple movement

for supply. In many cases, changes were received

too late to be incorporated during the initial

at the Jobsite without any serious loss of time.
packed for export, using where necessary the

facilities of a commercial export packing firm
at Oakland, California. These were transported

to the Jobsite in U.S. Navy or MSTS vessels

and were landed at either Tare or Elmer where
they were warehoused and then distributed as
needed to the varioussites.

Exploration was made early in the program

to determine suitable sources of coral aggregate

at Bikini Atoll, and from samples tested by the
Field Engineering Division possible reef locat-

ions were selected. As the program developed,

estimates were made of tonnages of aggregate
anticipated for various areas and a schedule was
established for quarrying and for crusher plant
operations at those locations. The same general

procedure was followed in determining locations
and timing for batch plant operations at different sites. This planning, plus the aquisition
of a considerable amount of new construction
equipment, made it possible to follow the construction program with minimum interference
due to lack of equipment. The fact that Bikini
Atoll had not been used in previous operations
of this nature meant that some means had to
be provided, either by channel clearance or by
construction of causeways, to enable equipment
and materials to be taken to each island containing a Scientific Station. The distance be-

tween Atolls and the difficulty of water transportation at Bikini Atoll, because of the roughness of the lagoon, added considerably to the
transportation problem. The field problems en-

countered in construction of heavy preciselylocated reinforced concrete structures of high
strength design were of comparable complexity
to those encountered in previous operations and

required close control at all points. Concrete
samples were picked up at various construction
sites and were taken to Eniwetok for testing
in the laboratory at that site.

CASTLE

(1 January 1953)

through 2 May

of personnel. The peak in contractual employees
at the Jobsite was 2,313 and was reached on 7
December 1953.

As critical need arose for certain classifications, security clearances became a problem,

particularily with respect to the long investigating and processing period that was required
before an applicant or employee’s services were
available to the project. Such problems were
partially resolved through liaison with the Los
Angeles office of the Atomic Energy Commis-

sion and the Security Section of the office of the
Eniwetok Field Manager. Two basic types of
authority granting access to the PPG wereused;
namely, the “P” approval and the “Q”’ clearance. As the “P” approval did not authorize
access to information classified ‘‘Restricted
Data,” it was necessary to send homeall “P”
approved personnel from the Proving Ground
for the period of the test operations. This was
accomplished by 24 January 1954.
MANAGEMENT
The Contract was a Fixed-Fee ArchitectEngineer - Construction - Management Contract
with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, administered by the Field Manager, Eniwetok
Field Office, under the direction of the Manager,

Santa Fe Operations Office. It was considered
very effective for the purpose of this project.

Within the framework of this Contract, the

Atomic Energy Commission had wide latitude
to change the scope of work or services to be

performed by the Contractor and at the same
time protect all the rights and interests of the
Government as to control of expenditures of
funds. The centralization of authority and responsibility for all features of the project by the
execution of the single consolidated Contract

In moving to Bikini Atoll, where the then

permits simultaneous action on architect-engineer services, procurement of construction equip-

necessary to set up an extensive horizontal con-

of manpower, construction, and operation; all

existing survey data were inadequate, it was

trol network covering all major islands of the
Atoll. Survey work was started early in the
program and its progress required a consider-

able amount of brush and tree clearing on most

islands as well as the rather difficult establishment of a rigid control point in mid-lagoon.
Limited

transportation,

security

require-

ments and the frequent change in scope of work
necessitated a careful balance of classifications
of men at any one phase of the entire program

and adequate

forcasting of personnel needs.

ment and materials, recruiting and processing

of which are essential ingredients in planning
a complex operation against a rigid end date.
The General Manager of Holmes & Narver,

Inc., directly responsible to the President of the

Company, was in charge of the over-all supervision of the Contract through the Controller,

the Contract Administrator, Manager Construction-Operations Div., Chief Security Officer and
Director of Engineering. The Manager, Con-

struction-Operation Div., exercised supervision

over the conduct of the operations at the ProvPage 1-7

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