Rostock fights against poison: new center for ammunition recovery launched!

Rostock fights against poison: new center for ammunition recovery launched!

A new chapter in ammunition recovery on the North and Baltic Seas is being opened. A federal competence center is being established in Rostock with the task of clearing the polluted waters of dangerous World War munitions. It is estimated that around 1.6 million tons of ammunition are stored there, which have been rusting unused in the sea for over 80 years and continuously releasing toxic substances such as the carcinogenic explosive TNT. Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig are committed to the rapid recovery of these dangerous contaminated sites. NDR reports.

The Federal Competence Center should not only coordinate the recovery measures, but also develop a floating destruction platform that enables the recovered ammunition to be detonated directly on site. This would be a real step forward as the current method of transporting ammunition to Munster is considered unsuitable. Experts are already showing interest in building these platforms, such as companies like Rheinmetall and TKMS. The Federal Environment Agency estimates that only five to ten tons of munitions are recovered from the seabed each year, illustrating the scale of the problem.

The dangers of contaminated ammunition

The rusting metal casings of sunken munitions release pollutants into the marine environment, including not only TNT, but also other dangerous compounds such as RDX and HMX. These substances are not only toxic, but also mutagenic and can also contain heavy metals such as mercury. In fact, 5,000 tons of chemical munitions were dumped in the Baltic Sea, which has the potential to disrupt physiological functions of marine organisms. The Schleswig-Holstein state parliament therefore warns of the considerable dangers posed by these remnants of the Second World War.

Given the dimensions of these dangers, politicians are calling for a fair distribution of the burden between the federal and state governments. A national ammunition register is overdue in order to properly understand the problem. MP Heiner Rickers from the CDU describes the situation as enormous: the amount of dangerous ammunition is compared to a 250 kilometer long freight train. This illustrates how urgent the rescue measures are in order to protect both people and the environment.

Future prospects

The federal government has currently budgeted 100 million euros in the federal budget, but experts consider this amount to be insufficient. A comparison with the annual expenditure of the five German energy network operators, who are also responsible for ammunition recovery, shows that there is a greater need for financing. The researchers at the University of Rostock also hope that around a fifth of the remaining ammunition can be recovered in the next 20 years.

The discussion on this topic will continue, as pilot projects and new technologies are also in the starting blocks. The challenges are great, but with a good hand and a clear plan it could be possible to defuse the “ticking time bomb” of old munitions and sustainably protect the marine environment.