We achieved a successful and safe mitigation and cleanup of a highly complex environmental concern at Quantico.

Our client, U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (NAVFAC SW), required improved safety conditions for training operations and morale welfare activities within EOD demolition ranges, active impact areas, and buffer zones, as well as training areas and hunting and fishing corridors for military and civilian personnel covering more than 6,000 acres.  Some of the hazards included unexploded ordnance (UXO), munitions and explosives of concern (MEC), Material Potentially Presenting an Explosive Hazard (MPPEH), and radiological considerations for targets and materials.  The potential UXO items included various small arms and training devices and ordnance ranging from 20mm Projectiles up to MK 83 series 750lb bombs and various missiles.

Due to the close proximity to several public use and recreational areas, NAVFAC SW needed to destroy these hazardous items using safe and successful mitigation techniques.  These public use and recreational areas including their actively used RV park, boating and fishing at Lunga Lake, military recreational areas, and the FBI and DEA recreational areas and physical fitness routes which were in close proximity to the work areas.

We performed a surface clearance spanning 6,297 acres that resulted in the location and destruction of more than 800 UXO/MPPEH and the inspection, demilitarization, and removal of 14 targets.  Our radiological inspection resulted in the location of one component with successful regulatory processing and the RAD free turn in and disposal of approximately 137,840 pounds of munitions debris/range debris (MD/RD) materials.  We completed this project 9 months ahead of schedule and with no accidents or incidents.

Since the surface clearance areas were widely spread across the Quantico range complex, we worked closely with Quantico’s Range Management Division in advance and again daily to eliminate impact to active base operations.  Clearance, demolition, target extraction, and scrap management operations were closely monitored and coordinated for maximum efficiency.  We frequently shifted our work to accommodate units mobilizing to Iraq and Afghanistan while not compromising our overall project schedule.

Much of Quantico is open access to civilian and military vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic which necessitated real time surveillance of primary and tertiary roads and secure access points. To ensure the safety of civilians, military personnel, and project staff, demolition operations were planned a minimum of one week in advance and GIS data was provided to Range Management for mapping, internal planning, and base wide distribution.  As additional safety and security measures, we engaged ground security at critical access points and had mobile lake security in boats to ensure necessary safety exclusions zones. We incurred zero accidents/incidents throughout the first task order under this overall project.

With the significant acreage, separation distance required, limited access, and the constant and sometimes daily movement of the work areas, we employed extensive real time GIS system to collect and manage production and materials locations. More than a terabyte worth of information was collected and managed over the course of the project and contained more than 3,000 points including UXO, discarded military munitions (DMM), scrap, targets, target debris, historical finds, and points of concern.  Additionally, we utilized this system to ensure the safety of multiple teams frequently operating in immediate proximity (100m) to active SDZ’s for small arms and small and large high explosive (HE) firing and bombing zones. 

The ultimate outcome was a successful and safe mitigation and cleanup of a highly complex environmental concern and continuous communication throughout the process with and on behalf of our client.

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