Canadian Nuke Bunker To Be Converted Into Data Fortress 197
miller60 writes "A hosting firm has purchased a nuke-resistant bunker in Novia Scotia, and plans to convert it into a data fortress for financial firms. Bastionhost hopes to attract European financial firms wary of housing sensitive data in the US due to the USA Patriot Act. The facility is one of a series of 'Diefenbunkers' built during the tenure of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to keep the Canadian government running in the event of a nuclear attack. While not all of these underground data bunker projects work out, a similar nuke-proof bunker in Stockholm, Sweden was recently converted into a stylish high-tech data lair for an ISP."
I remember our planning in DND (Score:5, Informative)
Basically, when we ran the numbers for nuclear war beyond a single missile, we realized the resulting nuclear winter would result in all Canadian forces and almost all of the population dying within months, and stopped wasting time on nuclear weapons, as the cost for security was higher than the deliverables of conventional weapons which were not subject to the constraints.
Basically, being in Vancouver BC at the time, you knew you had at least 10 nukes coming down, and even if intercepted, the EMP blast would take out all commercial systems and the radiation and fire storms would destroy all urban centers beyond useful measure.
So the two bunkers were a total waste of time, only there so the politicos could say they had a plan, and served no useful part, from any of our strategic war games planning.
It's Nova Scotia (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I remember our planning in DND (Score:2, Informative)
Department of National Defense, also goes by the French acronym.
At one point, after remuster, I was Chief Clerk for Pacific Region.
Re:from the canada-has-nukes? dept...? (Score:3, Informative)
Always good to have a nuclear bunker if your neighbor even has a slight chance to be part of a nuclear conflict.
Reading the link posted in this comment, I just learned that a secret Canada-US agreement has been signed in my city, Quebec.
Re:Then why Canada? (Score:4, Informative)
You're assuming that the Russkies are good shots.
Hell, I worked for the U.S. Air Force, and I wouldn't assume WE were good shots.
If you're living on an extended patch of ground between two nuclear adversaries, you'd have to be pretty cavalier about living to not have some kind of protection against "short rounds".
Re:I remember our planning in DND (Score:5, Informative)
And, even the Bruins fans will recall the Christmas trees we've been sending down for the last 90 years in gratitude for help after the Halifax Explosion. [wikipedia.org]. There's actually a fairly strong bond between Atlantic Canada and the New England states -- a lot of Empire Loyalists left that area to come to Canada after the Civil war. Some of my ancestors included.
But, on a more serious note, Halifax is a sheltered, deep harbour with a Navy base and an air base. Growing up there during the last bits of the cold war, we were all aware of the fact that we were on the list. It was kind of a depressing fact when we were kids and there was more saber rattling. :(
Cheers
Re:It's Nova Scotia (Score:2, Informative)
I thought it was Nouvelle Ecosse ...
Re:Then why Canada? (Score:3, Informative)
Canadians crossing the border into the United States are almost always covered by alternate legislation than the Rest of The World. Since I was a child the only identification a Canadian needed was a birth certificate. Since 9/11 the Americans have been trying to require passports for land crossings but it keeps being pushed back, although it is required for air travel by Canadians into the USA now.
I didn't know they were the same country?
No, just good friends.
Re:Test It Before Buying It (Score:1, Informative)
Radiowaves have this nasty habit of going everywhere where they're not supposed to. Having worked with EMC rooms, my guess is that the pager frequencies (possibly around 400MHz) got through open or badly sealed doors, unsealed ventilation shafts or just simply piggybacking on power or networking cables. Yes it can happen.
I suppose that to be EMP safe the whole bunker would have to be sealed with metal-on-metal contacts and any copper lines would have to have massive RF/surge filters installed. Somehow I think that a telecomms company cares fairly little about making some "adjustments" to a former nuclear bunker, thus making it less tight with RF/EMP in mind. Beware of marketing claims...
Technically speaking the sensitivity of your pager is much better than of your cellphone. A pager can work in surprisingly bad signal conditions. All it does is receive a slow datarate stream which is far easier to receive error free compared to encoded speech.
Also keep in mind that RF radiation is not the same thing as gamma rays. RF energy can bounce along corridors (especially ones with metal walls) or piggyback on copper cables. Gamma rays will not go around a corner if you don't count bremsstrahlung or scattering ;). Nuclear bunkers usually have over-pressure systems installed so minor leaks aren't a problem since contaminated air isn't getting in. A simple vault door and a slight overpressure will keep the radioactive dust away and a bend in the tunnel takes care of the direct rays. Ten meters of solid rock in itself is ample protection from fallout radiation. Leakage of RF power is a whole different issue.