Explosive ordnance detonation disposal

The explosive power of FAE amazes even explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel. Experts have estimated that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, if detonated, would produce the blast equivalent of a nuclear weapon. A propane truck, properly fuzed and... 

Usually, explosive items recovered by hand neutralization ara destroyed by specially-trained explosive ordnance disposal units. Should untrained troops be requir to do this, they should follow established procedures with great care. Explosives to be detonated should be buried in a pit at least i feet deep under 2 feet of earth, free of rocks or other matter that may become flying d ris. 

Many new robotic designs are being created. Vehicles looking like the lunar excursion module are common in bomb disposal units. Robotic backhoes and other devices are now in use. However, the concept of robotics can be as simple as placing an explosive ordnance item on a 3-in. foam rubber cushion atop a child s plastic basin-shaped sled and pulling it via a 200-ft nylon rope to a sandbagged detonation area. 

The operational scenario for the EDS consists of Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel hand-carrying the recovered munition and placing it in the EDS containment vessel. Once the munition is enclosed in the EDS, the conical and linear shaped charges are initiated to explosively open the munition and detonate the burster. Reagents are then added to treat the chemical agent. The treatment process relies on chemistries developed by the U.S. Army for the various... 

In 2004, a homeowner in the US state of Delaware noticed an object in his clamshell driveway which turned out to be a 75 mm artillery round (clam shells are commercially dredged partly for use as filler for driveways to homes in the region). An air force explosive ordnance disposal unit removed the shell and detonated it. Believing that it was conventional explosive round, the unit was somewhat surprised by the shell s weak explosion. The unit also noticed the presence of a dark liquid the colour of coffee surrounding the remnants of the shell. However, the unit did not consider that the shell might have been a chemical round until one of the members woke up in his home several hours later because of a severe and deep burning sensation. Classical sulphur mustard blisters soon formed and the samples taken from the fluid of the blisters confirmed that the person had been exposed to sulphur mustard. The shell had originally been dumped by the US off the east coast. 

The contamination of the environment by explosives, especially by nitroesters and nitroaromatics (NACs), is a worldwide environmental problem since enormous amounts of these compounds were produced during World War I and II. Most contaminated sites are located at ammunition factories and other places where these compounds were handled. This involved open detonation and burning of explosives at army depots, evaluation facilities, artillery ranges, and ordnance disposal sites (Rodgers and Bunce, 2001). 

War Department Field Manual FM 9-40, Ordnance Unexploded Bombs Organization and Operation for Disposal (1943) states for lead azide, Sensitivity. . . varies with crystal size. .. Large crystals detonate spontaneously. Sensitivity concerns over crystal size is compatible with the manufacturing process for lead azide in which dextrin or polyvinyl alcohol is added to inhibit crystal growth during the precipitation stage. (See Explosives by Rudolph Meyer.) FM 9-40 also states for TNT, Impurities may cause exudation. This is undesirable because of probabihty of low order detonation and increased sensitivity to shock of the explosive. ... 

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