German authorities carry out a largescale plan on upgrading the national energy system. They plan to build a huge wind farm in the Baltic near a small town of Norddeich. However, this project is challenged by a serious obstacle. Right at the site of the future wind farm construction the sea bed is packed with bombs and missiles that lie there for 70 years. An international team of experts was recruited to perform a massive hydrographic survey of the site, so that the WWII bombs could be safely dismantled.
– First stage of the project would last for one month, – Russian team members say. – A remotely operated vehicle would explore the sea bed, while team surveyors would mark the bombs on maps. After that the military would either explode them or lift them up.
In fact, most of the bombs are too old to be lifted up safely, therefore they are to be exploded right at the site. Prior to explosion the team uses an ultrasound device to chase out all the fish and other creatures. So far the team has found three aerial bombs 750 kilos each. The military encountered certain difficulties with the explosion, since the old detonators were damaged.
Project is to be finished by the end of 2012. Russian crew is on it until the end of November. However, our sea would not be completely free of WWII traces rusting on its bed.
Over one third of the Baltic seabed is covered with dangerous remains – not only aerial bombs, but also deepwater mines. The greatest danger is concealed in containers with tabun, nerve agent planned to be used as a chemical weapon. It was produced in a small coastal town in Germany. By the end of World War II the nazis simply dumped all cotainers to the sea. Some of them were dumped later by the Allies to the Norwegian strait of Skagerrak.
It might seem that only European water bodies, such as the Baltic, Black, North and Mediterranean seas, are facing the problem of pollution with old weapons. However, facts are the opposite. Every year fishermen capture about three tons of old weapons all around the world. Seismic radars detect underwater explosions at least every month. It all sounds like a true environmental disaster.
Photos: Spiegel.de, markjohnson.photoshelter.com and Shutterstock.