The bunker is composed of 32,000 cubic yards of concrete and 5,000 tons of steel which was grounded to avoid interference with critical communication equipment. Surrounded by a five-foot layer of gravel the bunker was able to move and absorb the shock of any explosions. Most things inside the bunker were also specially designed and constructed to absorb shocks. The first communication system operating out of the Diefenbunker was a torn tape relay. By 1963 it was replaced by an automatically computerized program relay system the length of two freight cars.
Garbage is the greatest limiting factor in any underground complex.
The kitchen contained a huge garborator, glass crusher and garbage refrigerator. In the 1980's, an industrial strength compactor was installed in the small tunnel connecting the main bunker to the Bank of Canada Vault. In a nuclear war the bunker would have been sealed and the air recalculated, but the sewage would still have been pumped out and water from the 120-foot deep wells pumped in.