However, not all of their work is clearance. In 2007, when the MSC Napoli container ship sank and ran aground on the coast of Devon, it was Welch and his team who blew up the ship in order to salvage it. “If it’s explosives-related, we do it,” he says.
Thanks to Novick’s findings, his team plans to change the way it sweeps sites. This means that Amatol’s “shock sensitivity” has increased, so it transports less at a time (which Novick believes is due to the formation of sensitive crystals and salts upon impact). For). ammonium nitrate reacts with the metal casing of the bomb). In particular, Welch hopes that the growing evidence at construction sites, where unexploded ordnance is frequently discovered and where construction workers are sometimes not as careful as they would ideally be, could prompt alarm. There is. He said his business deals with unexploded ordnance in the UK “on a weekly basis”, with everything from small-scale investigations to “fireworks”.
Unsurprisingly, he says, the highest density of unexploded ordnance is in the south-east of England, which was worst hit in World War II. But German unexploded ordnance is only part of the story. He and his team may also be called upon to dispose of boxes of Home Guard grenades or old demolition sites that have not been cleared properly.
The aggregates industry can be particularly dangerous. To obtain building materials, ships dredge the bottom of the Solent or English Channel. There, the ocean floor is littered with unexploded ordnance from two world wars. The sand and aggregate piled up on the shore can be littered with potentially deadly surprises. Disposal methods vary depending on the situation. If your troops come across something in a large open area, just blow it up. If a private construction company discovered a bomb next to a gas main, it would be a completely different proposition. It may be necessary to move the device before detonation, with special considerations for noise and disturbance. Other techniques can also help defuse old explosives, such as drilling a hole in the fuse or filling a clockwork fuse with salt water to clog it. “There’s always a risk that it might explode,” he says. “But you’re making it as safe as possible.”