Green explosives: Collateral damage

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NATURE.COM
Green explosives: Collateral damage
February 12, 2004

Even munitions that are never used in anger can have a long-term impact
on the environment, and the military is anxious to minimize the risks.
Jim Giles talks to the chemists who are developing 'green' explosives.

"I know ... some people think it is an oxymoron." Ron Jones sounds
weary. He has had to deal with my incredulous line of questioning
before. "But we really do need green explosives."

Bombing and shelling can't be good for any ecosystem. But away from the
heat of battle, military officials are ploughing precious research funds
into developing less-toxic explosives that should be better both for the
personnel who have to handle them, and for the environment.

Jones and his colleagues at the US Naval Air Warfare Center in China
Lake, California, for instance, are trying to replace the lead-based
compounds used to fire guns. Other groups want to phase out explosives
whose residues not only pollute the environment when detonated, but also
cause problems when unused ordnance is disposed of. "The environmental
issues with weapons go beyond what you see in combat," says Jones.

Pollution is a particularly pressing issue at the firing ranges where
soldiers and law-enforcement officers are trained.

When you pull the trigger of a firearm, two small explosions follow.
First a hammer or an electrical current detonates a small amount of
'primer' explosive. This ignites a larger amount of explosive, which
forces the bullet down the barrel.

The problem is that the most widely used primers contain lead. Two of
the current favourites -- lead azide and lead styphnate -- are responsible
for the dangerously high levels of lead found at some firing ranges. A
1991 survey, for instance, found that employees who had just cleaned a
range run by the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, had levels of lead in their
blood almost ten times as high as US government health limits.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v427/n6975/full/427580a_fs.html

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