• BeatL@pawb.social
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    4 days ago

    Not only Swiss but other countries as well (at least in europe)

    To dispose of outdated ammunition (this range from bullets to heavy bombs not including nuclear one) You have to make them explode. After that, they are safe to handle.

    However, making them explode is expensive. So why not dump them into a body of water (salted or not) that will absorb potential explosion and after some time, render the ammunition safe.

    It is from a long standing tradition of “cost to much to dispose? dump in the nature, futur ourself will deal with it. Fuck that guy btw”

    • nomad@infosec.pub
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      4 days ago

      Yeah, its not like these heavy metals are somewhat toxic leaching into our ground and drinking water… I mean… They came from nature, lets give em back… /s

    • noughtnaut@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      “[eventually] render the ammunition safe”

      You might want to look up the SS Richard Montgomery.

      At the point where it’s finally “safe”, London might look quite a bit different… 😬

      • khannie@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Well I was curious so I did.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

        Long story short it has an ass load of unexploded ordinance, an exclusion zone around it and a cautionary tale…

        One of the reasons that the explosives have not been removed was the unfortunate outcome of a similar operation in July 1967, to neutralise the contents of the Polish cargo ship Kielce, that sank in 1946, off Folkestone in the English Channel. During preliminary work, Kielce exploded with a force equivalent to an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, digging a 20-foot-deep (6 m) crater in the seabed and bringing “panic and chaos” to Folkestone, although there were no injuries. Kielce was at least 3 or 4 miles (4.8 or 6.4 km) from land, had sunk in deeper water than Richard Montgomery, and had “just a fraction” of the load of explosives.

        • BeatL@pawb.social
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          3 days ago

          Thank a lot. It was interesting.

          Yeah dumping ammunition and bomb in water make them less predictible, able to spontaneously explode and even in water the amount of explosive will directly damage humans life and building. Even if it does not explode it contaminate water, fauna, flaura and humans.

          The article explain that yes, the government is aware, yes the risk is imminent, yes they will do something… in 2001… yes nothing is done. yes they are surveys… yes they confirm the risk is even more imminent…

          Fuck.