MunitionsAlternatives to open burning, open detonation of conventional waste munitions

Most of the alternative technologies to open burning and open detonation (OB/OD) of conventional munitions designated for disposal are mature, including contained burn and contained detonation chambers with pollution control equipment, and many are permitted to replace OB/OD of waste munitions, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

However, without a clear directive and sufficient and stable funding from Congress, it will be impossible for the U.S. Army to implement a full-scale deployment of alternative technologies to replace OB/OD.  To help address this, the DOD should analyze the overall cost of both the current practice as well as the alternatives to determine the funding necessary to increase the use of alternatives over time.

This report is a result of an 18-month study that examined the conventional munitions demilitarization program at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), as mandated in the Fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

OB/OD operations destroy excess, obsolete, or unserviceable munitions, such as projectiles, bombs, rockets, landmines, and missiles by either detonating them or burning them in the open. This has been a common disposal practice for decades.  While there have been some safety incidents, the practices are considered generally safe for workers, according to the U.S. Army, and the committee finds that the Army safety program appears to be effective.  The downside of these operations is the process effluents that are released into the environment, containing some hazardous constituents, which are a significant concern for public interest groups.

“Because the U.S. military has a huge inventory of conventional munitions set for demilitarization, nearly 400,000 tons, the cost of alternative technologies and the successful disposal of these munitions through these alternatives are very important considerations for DOD and the Army,” said Todd Kimmell, a principal investigator at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and chair of the committee that conducted the study. “Complicating any push to fund replacement of open burning and open detonation with alternative technologies is the fact that EPA and the states maintain that permitted operations are safe for human health and the environment.”