Shield Environmental Associates Inc.

2 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discourages the disposal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) by open air and soil-covered detonations, because these processes cause toxic metals, organics and explosives to be released into the environment. This paper presents the results from an emissions testing study on an alternative UXO disposal technology (DeMil International Model T-10 transportable contained detonation system) while it was destroying 81-mm mortar rounds at the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The emissions testing showed that more than 98.8 % of the Zn and more than 99.99 % of the Cu, Mg, Mn, Fe and Al in the mortar rounds were retained in the T-10 and that the particulate emissions were 150 times less than those from an open air detonation. The emissions testing also showed that, if explosive and their degradation products were present, they were below the detection limit (i.e., 1 nanogram/gram of explosive detonated) of the measurement system