Wide area assessment - Development and case study

Munitions response is a high priority issue for the Department of Defense (DOD). Over 3,600 munitions response sites (MRS) are in DOD´s inventory of sites with potential military munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) contamination, including unexploded ordnance (UXO) and discarded military munitions (DMM). Because many of these sites are large in size (greater than 10,000 acres), the investigation and remediation of these sites could cost billions of dollars. To address this issue, a wide area assessment (WAA) process was developed to quickly and cost effectively assess 100% of a site to reduce the footprint to only those areas with known MEC contamination (i.e. MRS). In this paper, we present a discussion of the origins of the WAA concept, a case study of its first large scale application, descriptions of the component technologies, and conclude with recommendations.