ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: SUFFOLK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A search for buried explosives at the site of a former artillery depot has yielded two live shells, a rocket and tons of shrapnel and scrap metal, the Army Corps of Engineers says.
With the search nearly complete, workers said they have found no serious safety threats at the 975-acre site, which now includes a Tidewater Community College campus.
``The place seems to be pretty clean,'' said Ted Carlson, a specialist in unexploded artillery for Foster-Wheeler Inc., the contractor hired by the Corps to handle the search.
Carlson said the two World War II-vintage shells - a 75mm artillery shell and a 20mm anti-aircraft shell - and a fragment of a 4 1/2-inch rocket contained enough explosives to cause injuries and damage. But each lacked a fuse, and only a fire or lightning strike could have detonated them, he said.
So far, the search team has dug nearly 700 holes and covered roughly three-fourths of the site of the former Nansemond Ordnance Depot where the James and Nansemond rivers come together. The depot handled a vast array of military explosives between 1917 and the mid-1950s.
The Corps, whose job includes cleaning up former military bases, is conducting the search to ensure that the property is safe for the college and the owners of other sections of the former depot, General Electric and developer Dominion Lands. An industrial park is planned for those sections.
The search is expected to cost about $600,000.
The former depot has yielded a series of unsettling discoveries in recent years.
In 1987, a 13-year-old boy playing near a soccer field at the main entrance to the college found an unfamiliar substance in the dirt. It turned out to be TNT.
Several years later, a half-dozen 170mm artillery shells were found sticking out of the riverbank. They turned out to be inert.
Last year, Dominion Lands conducted a survey of its portion of the site and found a live 22mm anti-aircraft round. The company concluded the shell had been blown onto the property by a explosion at another part of the depot.
Because of the depot's history and the variety of new development on the property, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considered designating the depot as a Superfund site.
But state and local officials wanted to avoid that status and delays associated with the Superfund program. Gov. George Allen blocked the EPA action, and the Corps came up with the money for its cleanup.
Digging is expected to be completed in about two weeks.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB