Unstable fuses could cause unsalvaged World War II bombs aboard an abandoned shipwreck in the river Thames, UK, to blow, reveal investigations by New Scientist.
For 60 years the people of Sheerness in Kent have been living next door to a 1400-tonne time bomb. A lethal mixture of unstable second world war bombs is in the rusting wreck of the Richard Montgomery, a US cargo ship that lies half-submerged on a sandbank in the Thames, only two kilometres from the Kentish town.
If the wreck explodes it will be one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever. The cargo contains a mixture of fused and unfused bombs that were destined to support the Allied push in France following the D-Day landings.
For the first time a New Scientist investigation has established that UK government explosives experts believe that some of the fuses are unstable. Even a small shock could cause one of them to detonate, setting off part or all of the rest of the cargo.
Deadly cargo
The investigation has uncovered official estimates of the devastation that the explosion would cause, including predictions of a three kilometre high column of water, mud, metal and munitions sent into the air by the blast.
Five years ago the government asked independent consultants to carry out a risk assessment of the wreck. The consultants said that the safest course of action would be to remove the wreck's deadly cargo.
In 2001 the government held a meeting in Southampton to discuss what should be done about the wreck. But three years later this risk assessment remains unpublished and the Richard Montgomery remains on its sandbank, slowly rusting.
Full exclusive details are published in New Scientist print edition, 21 August.
Mick Hamer
Bold bits made bold by me.
I'd sugest magically transporting it to an uninhabited are and setting it off, that would be a pretty amazing sight to see. Failing that perhaps they ought to disarm it a bit.
Hi! I'm Prozac the Robert!
EBC: "We can categorically state that we will be releasing giant man-eating badgers into the area."
On the next episode of Very Paranoid (and rather stupid) Ideas: Al-Queda Suicide Divers of Doom! Sent by the evil bin Laden to detonate the wreck before the authorities get to it!
On a more serious note, they should evacuate the people and set it off, since its probably too dangerous to remove the cargo. That, and the explosion would be awesome.
There was an old WW II bomb found in a building site down my road. they evacuated everyone within in 1000 metre radius and set it off in "controlled" explosion. They managed to damage someones house
They'd have to something similar here though, heard it could shatter every window in sheerness. Thats a lot of broken windows!
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