Background about UXO's

Unexploded ordnances pose a significant public safety hazard in many parts of the world.

Example of a typical UXO found embedded in the ground.

Geophysics plays a key role in UXO remediation, with magnetics and electromagnetics the most well established techniques for ordnance detection; these methods are very effective at locating buried metallic objects such as UXO.

However, discriminating between intact UXOs and uninteresting objects such as metallic debris and shrapnel, which are abundant in former military regions, is a significant challenge. Often little or no effort is invested in discrimination and, consequently, many holes are excavated for each ordnance item recovered. For example, from 49,521 anomalies excavated at Kaho'olawe, Hawaii, only 3% turned out to be UXO (Putnam, 2000).

Geophysical research aimed at testing and improving the discrimination of UXO has already demonstrated a great deal of success and can thereby significantly reduce clean-up costs in the long term.

The source of UXOs may be armed conflicts, both old and more recent, in regions such as Europe (WW I & II), the Middle-East, South-East Asia, Afghanistan, the Balkans and parts of Africa. They are also a significant environmental problem in countries such as Canada and the United States, where they can be found in areas used for military training, as well as vestiges of firing ranges from WW II and the Cold War. They may occur on or near the surface, and down to depths of several meters below the ground.

It is estimated that 10 million acres of the United States are contaminated by UXO, which may be leeching chemicals into the ground. Clean-up time frame is in the decades, and a staggering cost estimate of tens of billions of dollars using existing technology.