Technology Options Tested on the German Coast for Addressing a Munitions Hot Spot In Situ
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In a significant number of inland waterways and practically every ocean, there exist conventional and chemical munitions dumpsites. In the years following World War II, both victorious and defeated states had to dispose of sizable munitions surplus stocks, including difficult-to-handle chemical warfare agents such as nerve agents, phosgene, and mustard. Most of the underwater dumpsites are the results of such disposal. The easiest way to address the munitions problem after World War II seemed to involve the Baltic Sea - which has maximum water depths of about 150 meters at the dumpsites. Related munitions dumping deposited up to approximately 300,000 tons of chemical munitions in the Skagerrak region and Baltic Sea. Experts assume that in the Baltic Sea alone, there are at least another 100,000 tons of conventional munitions. Present and future generations are threatened by these dumpsites. Because of an immediate threat to the public, German authorities addressed some sites. Based on the sensitivity of the resident and the threatened harbor porpoise, this required a paradigm shift from detonation of conventional munitions to an intense investigation of innovative alternatives. The authors present the common and innovative alternative solutions considered for the German Baltic Sea coast.