Admiral PRESSEY. Yes, sir, it will remain permanently at Anacostia and its permanent location is assured under the plan for AnacostiaBolling in the National Capital Planning Commission's plans for that area. Chairman RUSSELL. Continue, Admiral. NAVAL PROPELLANT PLANT, INDIAN HEAD, MD. Admiral PRESSEY. The third project is at the Naval Propellant Plant, Indian Head, Md. It consists of five unclassified and one classified line items for the total amount of $3,800,000. The five unclassified line items have a total estimated cost of $1,800,000. Four of these items are in program VII for general support, and the remaining item is in program VI for support of research and development. The plant manufactures, inspects, tests, and delivers propellants and components; conducts production engineering, and conducts research and development in related fields. The first line item is for magazines at the estimated cost of $154,000. It is included in program VI for support of research and development. Development of render safe and disarming procedures and disposal methods for conventional and nuclear weapons by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Facility, requires the storage of a wide variety of explosives and ordnance items, both foreign and domestic. The diversity and quantity of these items makes compatibility a major storage problem. Materials, known and unknown and of unpredictable compatibility or stability, must be segregated and stored in accordance with known or suspected characteristics and hazards. All existing magazine capacity at the Naval Propellant Plant is being utilized. To allow the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Facility to carry out its assigned program safely, it is mandatory that the proposed additional high explosives magazines be provided. These will consist of five new magazines and the relocation and alteration of three small keyport magazines. The second line item is for a Surface Ordnance Facility at the estimated cost of $29,000. The Surface Ordnance Branch of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Facility, with an allowance of 1 officer and 14 enlisted men, is housed in a 20- by 40-foot wooden frame structure which is in an advanced state of deterioration. To permit the Surface Ordnance Branch to carry out its responsibilities adequately, for developing render safe procedures for various types of ammunition and inerting live loaded ordnance, it is necessary that suitable facilities be provided near the test area. This line item will replace the existing, inadequate structure and provide suitable space for briefing, conferences, data compilation, report writing, and similar tasks required of the Surface Ordnance Branch in the accomplishment of its mission. The third line item is for an Underwater Weapons Facility at the estimated cost of $311,000. The Underwater Ordnance Branch of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Facility is responsible for the development of render safe procedures for conventional and nuclear underwater ordnance and devices, both foreign and domestic, and for certain tasks in connection with the development of tools and equipment which are designed for use with or against underwater ordnance. These tasks necessitate almost continuous diving operations in the Potomac River, involving 36 divers attached to the Underwater Ordnance Branch. Existing facilities are inadequate to carry out assigned tasks safely and expeditiously. The Potomac River is too shallow to meet all depth requirements and turbidity and winter icing conditions hinder underwater operations. Further, the distance and time involved in transporting personnel between the existing decompression chamber and the diving site constitute a real danger of death or permanent injury to diving personnel in the event of air embolism. Existing underwater and pressure test facilities in the Washington area, including the David Taylor Model Basin, the Experimental Diving Unit, Annapolis, and the Naval School of Deep Sea Diving, are not available for use by the Underwater Ordnance Branch on a continuing basis. This line item will provide facilities designed for the efficient and safer accomplishment of the tasks of the Underwater Ordnance Branch. Included will be a test tank room containing a pressure tank capable of providing pressures equal to those encountered at 300-foot depths, temperature, and salinity control, and a decompression chamber for safe operations. The fourth line item is for modernization of steam lines at the estimated cost of $1,106,000. Existing steam lines are not of sufficient capacity to handle the required quantities of steam at required pressures from the 450,000pound-per-hour Goddard Power Plant to production facilities throughout the station. The existing steam distribution system is capable of transmitting only 60 percent of the total Goddard Plant steam generating capacity resulting in inefficient and uneconomical operation of this plant and necessitating the costly operation of a booster plant. The inadequate size of present lines in the steam distribution system necessitates constant scheduling and rescheduling of various manufacturing processes in order to insure the delivery of steam at the proper pressure, temperature, and quantity at each and every point of usage. Such procedures materially reduce the flexibility and effectiveness of the Naval Propellant Plant. One of the principal advantages of the facilities at the Naval Propellant Plant is that it gives the Navy an in-house capability to produce propellants quickly responsive to the changing needs of the service. In the event of an emergency, the existing deficiencies in the steam distribution system would seriously limit the plant's capability to produce propellants in the quantities required to meet the needs of the fleet. Additional planned production facilities and proposed alterations to existing production facilities will require the use of a continuously increasing quantity of steam. This load cannot be met from the existing distribution system without aggravating the present deficiency and further lowering of the system's efficiency. This line item will provide for the installation of approximately 9,000 feet of steel piping at the Naval Propellant Plant. This will modernize the steam lines through the extension of the existing system and the installation of additional lines roughly paralleling part of the existing undersized lines, to take care of the most urgent requirements. Augmentation of the existing steam lines will result in substantial savings estimated at $200,000 annually. These savings are based on steam production at the Goddard Plant at $1.03 per thousand pounds of steam as opposed to $1.34 per thousand pounds of steam produced by the booster plant, and also by a reduction in the amount of electrical power at the Goddard Plant as a byproduct of increased steam output. These savings will result in amortization in less than 6 years. The final line item is for the acquisition of land at the estimated cost of $200,000. This land acquisition is required to comply with Armed Services Explosive Safety Board standards relative to the establishment of danger zones around explosives locations. The explosive scraps and rejected propellant grains, generated in the production and research processes at the Naval Propellant Plant, are too dangerous to be transported over public roads and must be disposed of by burning within the confines of the plant. The only suitable burning area where these materials, which weigh as much as 7,300 pounds each, may be disposed of, is on a peninsula extending into Mattawoman Creek. To provide the required explosive hazard safety zone between the detonation site and privately owned property, it will be necessary to purchase two parcels of land on Rum Point, a peninsula extending into Mattawoman Creek opposite the detonation site. Similarly, to provide the required explosive hazard safety zone between three magazines located at the naval propellant plant and inhabited buildings situated on private property on Bullet's Neck across the Mattawoman Creek from the plant, it will be necessary to acquire two additional parcels of land comprising Bullet's Neck. This line item will provide for the purchase of these parcels, comprising 130 acres of land in the Rum Point and Bullet's Neck areas, to prevent encroachment by private interests which would vitiate the usefulness of the explosives detonating area and force a reduction in the amount of high explosives which can be stored in three existing magazines. Chairman RUSSELL. On page 61-E, is an item for a million dollars for a new steam line out at Indian Head. Are you getting ready to replace all of your lines there? Admiral PRESSEY. No, sir. The present line which is an aboveground line, can only handle about 50 percent of the steam requirements of the station. We have to schedule our production around this limitation on our steam requirements. The existing piping requires the use of a booster, and prevents us from getting full efficiency from an existing electrical generating plant. Our annual costs are increased by $200,000 annually for the cost of operation. With this proposed facility, we will have a modern steam line which will permit us to operate all of our plant at one time. Chairman RUSSELL. All right, Admiral. What is your next project? NAVAL TORPEDO STATION, KEYPORT, WASH. Admiral PRESSEY. The next project is at the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport, Wash. It is included in program VII for general support. It consists of one line item for an underwater tracking facility, including land acquisition of 31.1 acres at the estimated cost of $258, 000. The station mission is to proof, test, evaluate, manufacture, and issue underwater weapons and components. The existing underwater tracking range was first installed in North Dabob Bay in 1957. This range has become saturated with experimental torpedo evaluations, proofing of torpedoes for fleet use, accuracy measurement of antisubmarine warfare equipment on fleet ships, and testing of special devices. Schedules for the use of these tracking facilities have been exceeded, and will continue to exceed, the range capability. Dabob Bay is sufficiently large to permit the installation of an additional tracking facility in order that two separate ranging operations may be carried on simultaneously. This line item will provide the necessary facilities for the construction of a three-dimensional range in the southern part of Dabob Bay to augment the North Dabob Range. Included are a computer building, transmitter and camera building, boat pier, boat-launching ramp, heliport, and acquisition of 31 acres of land. This land is required to provide a site for these new facilities and to provide waterfront sites along the range for optical transit stations, camera calibration targets, and range towers. NAVAL ORDNANCE PLANT, MACON, GA. The next project is at the Naval Ordnance Plant, Macon, Ga. It consists of one line item for land acquisition of 40.6 acres at the estimated cost of $40,000 and is included in program VII for general support. The mission of this activity includes the manufacture of various ordnance material, equipment, and components. The railroad siding used for the receipt and shipment of explosives at the plant is located 430 feet from adjoining private property. Similarly, several high-explosives magazines are located 780 feet from private property. Clearance of 1,310 feet is required to comply with Armed Services Explosives Safety Board criteria. To provide an adequate Government-controlled explosive hazard zone and insure against encroachment by commercial interests, it is necessary to acquire 40.6 acres of private land adjacent to the plant. This line item will provide for this land acquisition to insure that the existing rail facilities and magazines at the plant may be used to their full capabilities without hazards to the civilian community. Since the submission of this line item to the Congress, the Navy has been informed that the city of Macon, Ga., purchased the property contained in this line item, plus approximately 72 acres located immediately adjacent and southward for a total price of $85,000. The primary purpose for the acquisition is to provide a site for a sewage disposal plant. The Navy has also been informed that the city of Macon plans to defray the cost of the land acquisition and part of the construction cost of the sewage plant by one or a combination of the following methods: (a) Selling land to the State for highway right-of-way; (b) selling 40.6 acres to the Navy; and (c) selling the remaining land to other industrial developers. In the event that approval of this line item is denied, the property could be sold to industrial interests. The construction of inhabited buildings on this property within 1,300 feet of the naval ordnance plant property line would impose such restrictions on the Navy's handling and stowage of high explosives as to render the existing railroads siding and related magazines useless for their intended purposes. NAVAL WEAPONS STATION, YORKTOWN, VA. The last project in this group is at the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, Va. It consists of one line item for marshaling yards at the estimated cost of $932,000 and is included in program III for support of general purpose forces. This station is engaged in the maintenance, production, and issue of underwater weapons, guided missiles and other expendable ordnance. The existing rail and truck extrances to this station, used for the receipt and shipping of high explosives, pass through densely populated areas with on-station and off-station inhabited buildings located between 100 and 400 feet distant, in violation of existing safety standards. The existing railroad marshaling yard is bisected by State Highway 168, presenting a very real danger of an explosion resulting from collisions between highway traffic and railroad cars loaded with high explosives being shifted in the marshaling yard. This marshaling yard also fails to meet the explosive safety criteria regarding distance from inhabited structures. The station lacks a marshaling yard for trucks arriving and departing loaded with explosives. To eliminate these hazardous conditions, this line item will provide new rail and truck entrances to the station. It will also provide a 15-truck parking area with barricades as well as a 25-railroad car marshaling yard. These facilities will fulfill current explosive safety criteria. Current plans are to construct Virginia Interstate Highway 64 across the south end of the present railroad marshaling yard. Relocating the present railroad marshaling yard, as envisioned in this project, concurrently with the construction of this new highway, will preclude the necessity of constructing an overpass, at a cost to the Government of $250,000, at the site of the present railroad marshaling yard. Chairman RUSSELL. Tell us about your research projects, Admiral. RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION STATIONS Admiral PRESSEY. The final group of projects in the naval weapons facilities class is at research, development, test, and evaluation station. This group consists of 10 unclassified line items at 5 locations and 5 classified line items at 2 locations, for a total of $16,898,000. With the exception of one classified line item, these items are included in program VI for support of research and development. NAVAL ORDNANCE TEST STATION, CHINA LAKE, CALIF. The first project is at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, Calif., for a composite propellant facility at the estimated cost of $1,268,000. The work performed at this station is principally in the fields of rockets, guided missiles, underwater ordnance, and aircraft |