Non-Thermal, On-Site Decontamination and Destruction of Practice Bombs

The U. S. Armed Forces have been exploring alternative methods of dealing with unexploded ordnance (UXO) practice bombs (such as the BDU-33) that contain spotting charges (such as the CXU-5, MK-4, or KC-4). There are hundreds of thousands of these bombs at bombing ranges throughout the U.S. The explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) community estimates the dud rate of these bombs to be upwards of 20%. This means that when removing these items from a range, every bomb has to be examined. If it has not functioned, the item must be rendered inert. UXBase, a new process under development by UXB International, Inc. (UXB), uses base hydrolysis (a non-thermal, environmentally safe, cost effective alternative to the 3X and thermal 5X methods) to treat and destroy propellant and explosive residues on range-derived scrap and other materials. UXB feels this technology can also be applied to practice bombs. The process was evaluated to determine required process variables. Following treatment the clean scrap was evaluated to determine its value. After neutralization, the liquid by-products were analyzed for explosive content, metals, and pH. During operations, gasses evolved were analyzed for hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and phosphine. Overall the process failed to achieve its objectives. The failure was due to the inability of the caustic fluid to penetrate certain blockages of some dropped, but still live, BDU's so that the propellant was not always destroyed. The fact that propellant does remain in some cases means that inspection would be required to verify that the process has worked as intended for each and every BDU treated, which largely negates the projected cost savings from the process, and does not decrease the hazards associated with recycling BDU's over the present practice.