Ottawa · Attractions
·Diefenbunker Museum
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| What You Should Know
The tour is a guided walking tour, lasting about an hour and a half, of the four storey facility. Some special areas of "the bunker" that visitors will see are:
Hours During the winter season, (beginning Labour Day) tours run at 2 pm Monday - Friday and at 1 pm and 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday. For information or reservations,
Location To get to the Diefenbunker from Ottawa, follow the Queensway (Hwy 417) West, take the Carp-Stittsville exit and bear right onto the Carp Road. Go approximately 8km into the village of Carp. At the 4-way stop in Carp, go straight up the hill, past the Carp Fair Grounds and watch for the signs on the left indicating the entrance to the Diefenbunker. The Diefenbunker is located
on the same grounds as the West Carleton Library. Follow the signs to the
West Carleton Library. Drive past the guardhouse and park in the Diefenbunker
parking lot. The Blast TunnelThe Blast tunnel is open at both ends, to allow the blast wave to enter one end and exit the other without resulting in excessive pressure on the main entrance, which is placed at 90 degrees with respect to the tunnel. It is large enough to allow cars and small trucks access.The Air LockIn the event of a crisis, the only access to the bunker would have been through this air lock. Massive steel doors protected the building from blast pressure, and of course, only one door of the air lock would have been open at any one time. If a nuclear explosion had occurred, personnel would have been required to go through the decontamination centre, just to the left of the inner air lock door, and then probably on to the hospital, which was adjacent.Pillar BasesEach pillar expanded at both the ceiling and floor plates, in order to resist "punch shear" from a blast overhead. This type of shear might have cracked the plates where contact with the pillar was made.Top Level HallwayEach floor is separated by a thick steel reinforced concrete slab. Throughout the building, at regular intervals, there are powerfully constructed pillars that extend from the 5 foot thick base plate to the 5 foot thick ceiling plate 60 feet above. These contribute to the building's tremendous strength - it is one of the most powerfully constructed buildings in North America, and was built to withstand a 5 megaton blast at 1.1 miles.The Federal Warning CentreThe Federal Warning Centre received information about the emergency situation from various sources, including Emergency Preparedness Canada, and other military and civilian sources, including Cheyenne Mountain. It had the responsibility to initiate the sounding of all the sirens across Canada if necessary. The Diefenbunker was also the hub of the Canadian Military communication system, and would have served as the Central Government Emergency Headquarters in the event of nuclear attack.CBC Radio Studio and Control RoomThis fully functioning radio studio would have served as the main link between the average Canadian, who might be protected in a home shelter, and government services. An important piece of equipment for a home shelter was a portable, battery operated radio, in order to listen to messages from this room. The equipment from this room has been re-installed, thanks to the foresight of the Canadian War Museum. It is just one example of the reconstitution of key areas of the Diefenbunker.The Machine RoomA tremendous amount of equipment was required to maintain redundant electrical power backup, air quality, communications, water pressure, sewage management and fire control, for example. The room originally contained four 327 kw diesel generators which would have supplied power in the event of a nuclear disaster.GuidesMany guides for the tours of this facility are personnel who worked at some time in the Diefenbunker before it was decommissioned in 1994 when CFS Carp closed.See a Virtual Tour The hypertext link(s) below will connect you to a site(s) outside of ottawakiosk.com. These sites are not part of ottawakiosk.com. ottawakiosk.com has no control over their content or availability. |
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from these Attractions: 
Thirty-five kilometres from Canada's capital city, Ottawa, lies
a Cold War bunker that is home to the Diefenbunker - Canada's Cold War
Museum. "The most important surviving Cold War site in Canada"
the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Below
a farmer's field in the Ottawa Valley, Canada's "secret" bunker quietly
began operation in 1961. Throughout its 33 year lifetime the Diefenbunker
was the Central Emergency Government Headquarters for Canada. Federal government
budget cuts led to its being decommissioned in 1994.
