Chemical weapon agent at RAF Kinloss
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-o...
"The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is investigating radioactive contamination at the site linked to the use of "glow in the dark paint" in WWII aircraft."
but it gets "better"
"A land quality assessment completed in 2004 warned chemical weapons agent may be "present within landfill and waste tip areas located within the alienated land which is accessible to the general public".
The chemical weapons agent was sulphur mustard, which can cause severe burns and is also known to cause cancer."
Nice.
"The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is investigating radioactive contamination at the site linked to the use of "glow in the dark paint" in WWII aircraft."
but it gets "better"
"A land quality assessment completed in 2004 warned chemical weapons agent may be "present within landfill and waste tip areas located within the alienated land which is accessible to the general public".
The chemical weapons agent was sulphur mustard, which can cause severe burns and is also known to cause cancer."
Nice.
Just one of numerous sites around the UK that are contaminated with wartime stuff of one sort or another.
The preferred method of getting rid of excess weaponry at the end of the war was to bury the stockpile often marked by a set of fir trees or similar.
Unfortunately the record keeping was abysmal so as the landscape changes it becomes difficult to track back down and reliance on anecdotal evidence becomes the only way to guess where to start.
Easy to criticise now but at the time it was a huge problem that needed dealing with very quickly. Nobody really considered the future disposal of the land back to the communities.
The preferred method of getting rid of excess weaponry at the end of the war was to bury the stockpile often marked by a set of fir trees or similar.
Unfortunately the record keeping was abysmal so as the landscape changes it becomes difficult to track back down and reliance on anecdotal evidence becomes the only way to guess where to start.
Easy to criticise now but at the time it was a huge problem that needed dealing with very quickly. Nobody really considered the future disposal of the land back to the communities.
Yep - radium gets scattered quite easily when they dispose of stuff like that - often burning the instruments or just burying them. There are a couple of places that hit the news quite regularly for this - not least (for one of them) that some of the stuff ended up in/on/under the beach, which means it churns in the sand, so you clear it, then a while later it's as bad again!
Shoebury Garrison has been a good one for finds, being the old artillery ranges before Foulness was necessary.
In developing the parkland (old ranges) we have come across everything from Napoleonic grenades to anti tank missiles, all live and being destroyed on site on a weekly basis until recently which was fun. Working with this mob http://www.bactec.com/
There's plenty of sulphur mustard too but we reckon we've identified where that is and the badgers will get that before any human interface.
Bloody hundreds of cannons of which we still have a couple of twelve foot jobbies in the yard for restoration. Only one required if someone wants one for their front garden.
New bit of sea wall defence for the council ended up with us going through a load of white phosphorous which wasn't funny. MOD came out and stated all they could do was keep popping back and raking it over to activate it. Their risk assessment included requiring us to put up some heras fence around it so the kids with buckets and spades playing in the sand 20 foot away weren't tempted to dig the wrong bit up.
Of course having the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment on the doorstep means they have a greater likelihood of suffering from beryllium poisoning rather than phosphor burns and if that misses them they still have the 7,500 tonnes of high explosive sitting on a shipwreck 3 miles the other way to avoid, so I suppose the phosphor risk is ok really.
In developing the parkland (old ranges) we have come across everything from Napoleonic grenades to anti tank missiles, all live and being destroyed on site on a weekly basis until recently which was fun. Working with this mob http://www.bactec.com/
There's plenty of sulphur mustard too but we reckon we've identified where that is and the badgers will get that before any human interface.
Bloody hundreds of cannons of which we still have a couple of twelve foot jobbies in the yard for restoration. Only one required if someone wants one for their front garden.
New bit of sea wall defence for the council ended up with us going through a load of white phosphorous which wasn't funny. MOD came out and stated all they could do was keep popping back and raking it over to activate it. Their risk assessment included requiring us to put up some heras fence around it so the kids with buckets and spades playing in the sand 20 foot away weren't tempted to dig the wrong bit up.
Of course having the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment on the doorstep means they have a greater likelihood of suffering from beryllium poisoning rather than phosphor burns and if that misses them they still have the 7,500 tonnes of high explosive sitting on a shipwreck 3 miles the other way to avoid, so I suppose the phosphor risk is ok really.
Simpo Two said:
MOTORVATOR said:
they still have the 7,500 tonnes of high explosive sitting on a shipwreck 3 miles the other way
Now that would get the Olympics off with a bang...
And here's a chap that agrees with your fireworks scenario.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIXMT4sDSs
Just let me know when you're going to set it off so I'm the right side of the island, wouldn't want to spill one's gin whilst navigating the tsunami
I came across a load of phosphorous incendiary cores about 15 years ago on the Isle of Arran. There's a little stockpile of weapons out off the coast and a storm shook a few loose.
They looked like a roughly bottle shaped tube of expanding foam with a gel core. Aften they had dried out for a while, they'd then catch fire, giving off some toxic smoke.
Kicked some about the beach, but they didn't do much.
In the meantime, get yourself some Radior, for the authentic glow that can only be measured in half lives.
They looked like a roughly bottle shaped tube of expanding foam with a gel core. Aften they had dried out for a while, they'd then catch fire, giving off some toxic smoke.
Kicked some about the beach, but they didn't do much.
In the meantime, get yourself some Radior, for the authentic glow that can only be measured in half lives.
Edited by TheEnd on Tuesday 22 May 03:55
TheEnd said:
I came across a load of phosphorous incendiary cores about 15 years ago on the Isle of Arran. There's a little stockpile of weapons out off the coast and a storm shook a few loose.
They looked like a roughly bottle shaped tube of expanding foam with a gel core. Aften they had dried out for a while, they'd then catch fire, giving off some toxic smoke.
Kicked some about the beach, but they didn't do much.
Shedloads of them buried around the coast by the home guard in case of invasion. They were given them as they weren't found effective at the front. In true Dad's Army style though Corporal Jones forgot where he hid them. They looked like a roughly bottle shaped tube of expanding foam with a gel core. Aften they had dried out for a while, they'd then catch fire, giving off some toxic smoke.
Kicked some about the beach, but they didn't do much.
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