Environmental issues of energetic materials: A U.K. perspective

Research on environmental problems encountered in the production, formulation, use and disposal of energetic munitions is driven by current and projected future legislation. In turn, legislation is being driven by public perception and pressure groups. With the ban on sea dumping and pressures to ban open burning the main concern at present is disposal of the “end of life” stockpile. U.K. research effort on disposal is further influenced by both the available funding and the size of the U.K. problem. Controlled incineration is being implemented and a munitions destruction facility based on this has been commissioned. For the longer term there is an increasing research effort in the production of munitions by cleaner methods and processes for the control and treatment of effluent streams. There is strong commitment by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to address environmental issues and an Ordnance Board Proceeding “Design for Disposal” has been published. This is a far reaching proposal which places full life cycle responsibility on the procurer i.e. purchasing office in the U.K. MOD. Design for Disposal is a comprehensive strategy which considers all aspects of the life of munitions from design, through production to eventual disposal.