Proven Technology That Works

The U. S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) and the U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit (TEU) were jointly tasked to remove and dispose of munitions and munitions related items (MMRI) located along the shoreline of and/in the Chesapeake Bay section of the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). Weapon development and testing is one of APG missions which has required firing millions of rounds on various APG ranges since 1918. Before Army regulations changed, the installation performed periodic sweeps on its ranges to collect MMRI on the surface and dispose of them in pits. Decades of soil erosion have exposed seven pits and non-recovered munitions along the shoreline and off-shore in shallow water at Abbey Point. The two concerns associated with the MMRI exposure are environmental and safety hazards. While very little is known about the environmental effects on the Chesapeake Bay from decaying munitions, the exposed MMRI pose a potential physical hazard to people and animals, thus safety is the major concern. This paper focuses on the removal action recently completed at shoreline pile number one and future removal actions to be taken to complete the removal of the remaining six (6) piles along the shoreline and shallow waters in the Chesapeake Bay around Abbey Point. See also ADM001002. Published in the Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth DoD Explosives Safety Seminar Held in Orlando, FL on 18-20 August 1998.. The original document contains color images.