of one page, was issued under date of March 23, 1951, This addendum
revised the scope of work in conformity with the reassignment of con-
struction operations and, in addition, incorporated Appendix "A" into
the specifications, Appendix "A", consisting of eight pages, comprised
the list of working drawing numbers and titles for approximately two
hundred and fifty drawings.
The specifications covering construction work for facilities on
Eniwetok Island, including the addenda and Appendix "A" consisted of
one hundred and eighty-four pages. This material, except Appendix "A",
is reproduced in Appendix "F" to this report.
Preparation of the construction specifications for all the other
sites was the largest part of the work of the Specifications Department,
Because the Purchase Specifications were planned for incorporation into
the General Specifications ("Specifications, Atomic Energy Commission,
Proving Ground Facilities, Eniwetok, M.I."), the date of the first
Purchase Specification, May 18, 1949, may be considered the starting
date for these General Specifications, But, it is to be noted that because the preparation of Purchase Specifications involved collecting
and compiling data, the actual specification work began almost as soon
as the engineering design work.
The requirements imposed by conditions at the Jobsite were limiting not only upon design but upon materials specifications as well.
Materials either had to be intrinsically resistant to extremes of heat
and humidity, mildew, and salt spray or had to be processed to resist
these, Very few native materials could be used, and weight and bulk
were important factors in transportation to the isolated Jobsite,
Economy and use-expectancy added limitations as well, The result was
that many common construction materials were virtually prohibited for
their normal use and had to be the subject of special investigation to
determine the practicability of their use, Such materials included
structural steel, miscellaneous iron and steel items, ferrous sheet
metal, ferrous rough and finish hardware, glass, ceramic tile, brick,
concrete block, and similar products.
Although the problems involved in using available substitute
materials were primarily those of design, the Specification Department
was frequently called upon by various engineering design departments to
make recommendations based on its familiarity with the various types of
products and sources of supply. The investigation required for a considered recommenation was often extensive. For example, for finish
hardware it was first necessary to consult reference files and then to
contact six hardware suppliers, On the basis of information thus obtained, the Chief Architect and Chief Specification Engineer determined
that aluminum hardware would best satisfy the governing criteria. It
was then necessary for the Chief Specification Engineer to confer with
suppliers and obtain quotations and samples,
Some items of finish hardware were not being manufactured either
in aluminum or other corrosion-resistant metals. Therefore, a survey
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