The SRS Munitions Response Services (MRS) group supported Manson Construction, Inc. (Manson) of Long Beach, CA in the removal of munitions from dredge spoils. SRS wrote the Explosive Safety Submission (ESS) for this work, with the document intended to be used on subsequent dredging work at the site.

UXO teams from SRS worked two 12-hour shifts, five days per week, processing collected dredge spoils on the Mole Pier on Naval Base San Diego (NBSD). Manson brought dredge spoils ashore and deposited them on the Mole Pier in a secured area called the Combined Drying Facility (CDF). The spoils were laid out and searched through by the night shift crew to remove items 37mm and larger, some of which were munitions. That material was stockpiled, dried, and sifted down to ¾-inch by the day shift.

All oversized material (larger then ¾-inch) was inspected and segregated into ordnance related, non-ordnance related, asbestos containing or not, and radiologically contaminated or not. Clean metal and other trash (pipe, wire rope, pier pilings, etc.) was disposed of off-site.

Sifted fines (less than ¾-inch) were inspected by a radiological contractor for radiological contamination. Resulting “clean” soil was trucked off-site to a permitted landfill.

The UXO teams found several live ordnance items that were disposed of on-site at a specially-constructed open demolition site. The team used a method called Buried Explosive Module (BEM) to explosively dispose of ordnance on-site without disturbing or endangering neighboring activities.