An underground bunker in North Bay Ont. – Canada’s first NORAD headquarters in 1963 – is to be scrapped because the feds couldn’t think of any uses for it, says Blacklock’s Reporter..“Given security, cost and environmental considerations we are planning to decommission the complex,” the department said in a statement..“As a first step we will examine our options by completing a hazardous materials study, followed by an environmental contamination and remediation study.”.The bunker was declared surplus by the military in 2012..It was originally built for $51 million, the modern equivalent of $443 million, and included the country’s first supercomputer..Shuttering the complex will take five years and cost another $1.8 million, according to a contractors’ notice..The bomb-proof bunker was built 600 feet below ground for North American Aerospace Defence Command..Its air crew were to alert NORAD headquarters at Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs of incoming Soviet missiles..“It was a key NORAD facility during the Cold War,” said the department..The North Bay bunker took four years to complete and featured a 275-ton computer equipped with 58,000 tubes..The military dismissed proposals to turn it into a museum, saying it would take “significant investments and funding” to find any use for the complex..“While several parties have expressed interest in repurposing the facility, transferring it to a third party is not possible due to security requirements,” wrote staff..“Bringing the facility up to health and safety standards is not feasible.”.The North Bay bunker, built to withstand a direct hit from a hydrogen bomb, was never a secret and was actually open to VIP tours, unlike a top-secret underground complex at Carp, Ont. built as a home for cabinet in case of nuclear war..The 1959 Central Emergency Government Headquarters at Carp cost the equivalent of $200 million..The Carp complex was uncovered in 1961 by Toronto Telegram reporter George Brimmell. It was decommissioned in 1994 and currently operates as Canada’s Cold War Museum..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
