Ammunition Disposal: Efficiency or Safety
Recently, the problem of disposal of ammunition has been discussed especially actively. It even outstripped such an important topic as the deployment of anti-missile defense systems in Europe, for which there is a logical explanation: the problem of European missile defense for the majority of the population is something abstract and distant in time, and numerous explosions at landfills and arsenals are becoming more and more frequent.
The increase in the number of accidents in ammunition depots and a large number of human casualties, when specialists who are involved in the process of recycling die, have generated a wave of protest against the civilian population. People demand an end to explosions. The current situation has led to the emergence of a significant number of publications and speeches in which this problem is considered in detail and various ways of solving it are proposed. It would seem that the situation should have changed for the better with the adoption by the government of a federal program on the industrial utilization of weapons and military equipment designed for the 2011-2015 years and up to the 2020 year. But ... the program was approved only at the end of 2011 of the year, and so far virtually no changes have occurred. Undoubtedly, some benefit from the discussions was still: representatives of the military department were involved in the dispute, and they had to make public certain plans and figures. But they, unfortunately, also failed to please anything.
In fact, the Ministry of Defense remains not only the main customer, but also the main performer of activities related to the disposal of ammunition.
And the assurances of the military leadership that the arsenals would be turned into safe systems for the storage and destruction of ammunition, which were supposed to reassure the public, on the contrary, caused even more concern. First, it finally became clear that the munitions themselves are being destroyed by the military itself, and not by the industry that produced them, and which should have dealt with their disposal. Secondly, the population is extremely concerned about the fact that the disposal of ammunition continues to be the only method that is available in the Russian army - for this purpose, an open blasting is used, which has an extremely negative effect on the ecological situation. Thirdly, the loud word "recycling" means nothing more than simple destruction.
For proper disposal is characterized by the use of special industries, control processes and technologies, that is, all that is not in the Russian defense ministry.
But the truth, as they say, lies on the surface. The Defense Ministry only performs all the disposal work on its own, because at the same time it was provided with commercial functions. Someone suggested a "successful" thought - let the military department provide for itself independently. Thus, according to many, the Ministry was headed by a man who understands absolutely nothing in military affairs, but is very well versed in matters of trade. It is clear that the decision to grant such “autonomy” to the military department deprived the government of a large number of problems, but the existence of the state in the state gave rise to new, even more serious ones. The existence in the Ministry of Defense of its ministries of trade, finance and industry pursues a single goal - to gain and retain profits within the department. All the material and financial resources that are allocated to the Ministry of Defense are no longer returned to the state, and the Minister of Defense has the right to personally decide on the purchase of new weapons and military equipment, to whom to give contracts and even what prices to set. Meanwhile, the privatization of the rights to dispose of ammunition causes enormous damage to the state defense industry, which is designed to meet the needs of the state both in peacetime and in wartime. Therefore, its enterprises must maintain capacities (mobilization), which are too expensive, leading to the fact that products become uncompetitive. Defense industry enterprises exist to not only produce, but also dispose of ammunition. And if military warehouses are full and there is a need to reduce production, it means that enterprises need to be loaded with disposal work. If this is not done, they will simply cease to exist, since there are no other means for development.
At the same time, while the military department is trying to get more profits, tragic incidents continue in landfills and military warehouses, as a result of which people, most often draftees, die.
Thus, during the 1994-2011 period, 29 fires occurred in military depots, which resulted in the detonation of ammunition in most cases, the damage was more than 11 billion rubles.
Here are just some examples. In the summer of the year 2002 in the Volga region an explosion occurred at the arsenal, 6 wagons with ammunition were destroyed. In 2009, a fire broke out at the military arsenal in Ulyanovsk, during its liquidation, safety rules were violated, as a result, detonation of ammunition occurred, and 11 people died. In 2011, several more fires occurred that were accompanied by explosions. The difference between them was only a week. So, on May 26 there was a fire at a military warehouse near the city of Urman, as a result of which the 12 man suffered. 2 June - a similar case occurred at the arsenal near Izhevsk, but the number of victims was significantly higher - about 100 people. And more recently, another tragedy occurred - during the unloading of ammunition at the Mulino range, an explosion occurred, which resulted in the death of conscripts. And just the other day, another case of ammunition explosions occurred - in an artillery depot of a military unit located approximately 300 kilometers from Vladivostok. At the moment, aware of the two victims.
At first glance, it seems that the problem may well be solved, for this, in essence, a new recycling program was approved. However, the military department decided to use its methods. In a great hurry, the process of disposing of decommissioned ammunition was begun by open blasting at military sites. The Deputy Minister of Defense explains this rush by the fact that a fairly large amount of ammunition must be destroyed: more than 150 million tons of ammunition is stored in 10 warehouses and arsenals that are to be closed. They represent a great danger, because over time, the characteristics of explosives have changed. Therefore, their further storage threatens to lead to new tragedies and emergencies. Besides the fact that there is a real threat of an explosion, there is one more reason why expired ammunition must be eliminated - significant amounts are required for their maintenance. And since there are no guarantees that they will not detonate directly in the warehouses, no one can give, the Ministry of Defense decided on such a dangerous step as undermining.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov issued an order, according to which at 65 military grounds, explosive ordnance unsuitable for use was organized. This procedure, although dangerous from the point of view of safety and environmental friendliness, is at the same time highly effective. Thus, in the 2011 year alone, more than 1,3 million tons of ammunition were disposed of, during the explosions, 255 groups of more than 12,5 thousand people and 1,7 thousand units of equipment were used. At the same time, according to Deputy Minister of Defense Dmitry Bulgakov, the industry would need 19 years to dispose of such volumes of ammunition.
But the problem cannot be solved in this way. The military department has long lacked qualified specialists who could perform high-quality demolition work. Therefore, for these types of work attract mostly soldiers conscripts.
The Ministry of Defense claims that it has taken all the necessary security measures and has thought out a plan of work, where all the stages of disposal are specified to the smallest details. A classification of explosive ordnance was also developed. Samples of these documents are in all officers who are involved in the process of disposal.
The military department says that it is not at all against adopting a new recycling program, but notes that the prospects for its use and efficiency are under a big question mark. In addition, the defense industry itself is no longer interested in recycling, since there is still a certain amount of ammunition with a low content of valuable materials. To dispose of them is very expensive. The industrial method of disposal was profitable at a time when they were getting rid of ammunition with brass shells in military warehouses and arsenals. Since brass is an expensive material, it was sold, gunpowder was burned, and the projectile, inside which there was an explosive, was transported back to the warehouse. This was the disposal.
At the present time mainly ammunition for grenade launchers, mines and unguided rockets are left in military warehouses, which cannot be disassembled in a short time.
Another serious problem arose before the Ministry of Defense - it is planned to close 2015 military warehouses and arsenals before 150, and all the ammunition that was stored on them is supposed to be transported to 35 of new objects located outside population centers. Already built 145 storage, equipped with fire extinguishing systems and temperature control. The construction of another 1200 storage facility has been planned and started. They should accommodate more than 6,6 thousands of cars of ammunition. And by the year 2014 there should not be a single expired ammunition. Thus, the total amount of ammunition should be 3 million tons.
According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Vladimir Komoyedov, 30 is expected to be allocated billions of rubles from the funds that were received to fulfill the state defense order, to improve ammunition storage conditions. He is convinced that the lack of the required number of new storages threatens state security, since ammunition is in fact not protected from potential enemy attacks.
And the first deputy chairman of the committee, Sergey Zhigarev, has repeatedly stated the need to switch to a non-explosive method of disposal of ammunition, in addition, it is necessary to transfer responsibility for the careless handling of ammunition to the state. People involved in the process of destruction of ammunition, risking their lives, moreover, there is always a moment of chance. Only if the government takes the burden of responsibility on itself, will it be possible to say that all necessary conditions and precautions will be observed.
Materials used:
http://www.vz.ru/society/2012/5/17/579234.print.html
http://nvo.ng.ru/printed/268087
http://www.ria.ru/defense_safety/20120518/652264601.html
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