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CHAPTER II
ENGINEERING — CONSTRUCTION
SECTION |
ENGINEERING

OPERATION IVY.
This concept indicated there would be in-

creases in base camp operational population, resulting in the necessity for restudying total water
and power potential; and it established, some
months in advance of firm criteria by the Proving Ground’s Using agencies, a scale and direction for important advance planning and scheduling of structures. Certain basic engineering
analyses and design relating to access and occupation of Bikini Atoll and to the re-use of
Eniwetok Atoll, were at this time well advanced,
howeve,, having been initiated in 1952.

DESIGN
The initial Engineering design work for
OPERATION CASTLE was authorized on 15
September 1952. This preliminary work consisted of designing and preparing plans with
resident forces at Eniwetok Atoll for the construction of a temporary 250-man Bikini camp

on Tare, with a mole-type pier and a stabilized

ramp, an earth-fill causeway linking all the
islands from Tare to Oboe, and a 4500-foot airstrip at Peter-Oboe suitable for C-54 aircraft.
In a conference held at Los Alamos on 8
December 1952, the then contemplated scope of
the Operation was outlined.
At that time,
Holmes & Narver was authorized to proceed
with the following plans, studies and investigations: (1} Plans and estimates for a test barge
outfitting pier at site Elmer; (2) studies of availability and cost of barges to be used as test
platforms; (3) study of requirements for the

re-use of Flora area; (4) electrical power study;

(5) Bikini wave and anchorage study; and (6)
subsurface investigations for footing and foundations on both atolls.
As the requirements for scientific facilities
developed, it became important to maintain
close engineering liaison between H&N, the
AEC Divisions, and the Using Scientific Agencies. This served not only to expedite the mutual effort and the essential mutual understanding of the problems involved, but also contrib-

uted favorably to the distribution of work load
and priorities of effort, procurement and mobiliz-

ation forecasts, and sensitivity of design by

HEN.

It was apparent in the early discussions

that the University of California Radiation
Laboratory (UCRL) would have a prominent

part in the test program requirements. Close
engineering liaison with UCRL was set up for
the transmittal of design criteria as well as preparation of preliminary drawings and cost esti-

mates. In November 1952, UCRL desired a
separate contract with H&N so as to provide

smoother operation with respect to planning. On
15 January 1953, AEC advised both UCRL and
H&N to undertake the work under Contract
20. At that same time both parties were authorized to deal directly with each other for preliminary planning.
In March, LASL (J-6)
placed a liaison representative at UCRL and
all H&N work was then cleared through him.
The original scope of UCRL activities included:

1. Pipelines. Two 8 5/8” O. D. vacuum pipe
arrays for diagnostic purposes - one
10,000 feet long consisting of two pipes,
and the other, also 10,000 feet long, consisting of six pipes. As a consequence of

a

later substitution

for the

UCRL

tower experiment, a third pipe array

was ultimately included in the program.

As the critena develoned, the following
changes were approved.
a. One two-pipe array, 2800 feet long
b. One two-pipe array, 5600 feet long
c. One twelve-pipe array, 7500 feet long
2. Towers. One test tower 200 feet high
and two line-of-sight collimator towers.
These towers were subsequently deleted.
3. Detector Station. Three expendable de-

tector stations with travelling cranes.

4. Blockhouses.
Three recording blockhouses of which only one required completely new facilities. IVY Station 200

and GREENHOUSE Stations 132 and

1326 were to be reactivated and re-used.
In the final program, IVY Station 200

was not re-used and an additional blockhouse was required.
aod

In January the preliminary requirements
for Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier, Inc, (EG&
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Preliminary estimates of scientific requirements available to the Holmes & Narver Engineering Division by January of 1953 indicated
that OPERATION CASTLE would be approximately three times greater in magnitude than

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