On 22/01/2025 09:56, Andy Burns wrote:
So, how do you make bombs less bomby, without increasing risk to those disposing of them?
<https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dgrvww3qeo>
Another piece of Bull Shit reporting.
How much more noise does pile driving for a off shore wind turbine
foundation make compared to the occasional underwater explosion to
disposal of ordinance.
I have limited experience of clearing (unexploded) ordinance. When
Maplin airport was proposed I had a summer job detecting ordinance on
Maplin Sands, including digging down to it. The location has been used
for a couple of hundred years as a weapons testing range and what can be
found, sometimes buried very deep, is everything from fused cannon balls
to 18 inch naval shells. When testing guns or mortar tubes the mutations
may have been representative dummies with no explosives or fuses. When
testing the munitions they would have fired live rounds some of which
failed to explode.
If an area has to be cleared for deeply buried unexploded ordinance
prior to driving the foundations for a wind turbine then its going to
be a very costly business and probably making building a wind farm in
that location uneconomic. The main problem will be detection and gaining
access to the munitions rather than disposal.
The photo in the article shows an underwater explosion but possibly set
up to give the maximum dramatic impact for the camera. When I was
working on Maplin sands there was a permanent small military bomb
disposal team who would identify any suspicious items found and if
suspected of still being live would (mainly) remove them to the low
water limit and detonate them during high tide, under water. If the
press was around the resulting explosion would have produced a
spectacular water eruption but during routine disposal it was much of a non-event.
I'm sure that those disposing of unexploded ordinance have been well
aware of how to minimise the effect for at least 100 years, and
especially with WWII items on land.
--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)