Switzerland discarded substantial military ordnance into its water bodies. Currently, they're offering an impressive sum of $57,000 for the most innovative solutions to retrieve these explosives.
Three top submissions willdivide a prize fund of 50,000 Swiss francs ($57,800), as revealed by Armasuisse, Switzerland's federal office for defense procurement, in a statement released lately.
Although the winning plans won't be executed right away, they might serve as a foundation for future research into managing the dilemma of submerged weapons, according to the report.
Between 1918 and 1964, various munitions, some surplus, faulty, or outdated, were submerged in several lakes, including Lake Thun, Lake Brienz, and Lake Lucerne.
Armasuisse states that these weapons were buried between 150 and 220 meters (492 and 722 feet) beneath the water's surface.
As stated in the report, Armasuisse aims to integrate academia and industry more in the discussions surrounding environmentally safe and secure retrieval of deep-lake munitions, should the need ever arise. This could be necessitated if pollutant release from submerged munitions were to be detected during ongoing lake water monitoring.
In 2005, an evaluation of potential retrieval methods revealed that all proposed munition recovery methods from that period would result in significant sludge turbulence and significant risks to the delicate lake ecosystem, as per the report.
Other difficulties include poor visibility, the danger of explosions, water depth, currents, munition weight and size (with some weighing up to 50 kilograms or 110 pounds), and the fact that some components are made of non-magnetic metals such as copper, brass, or aluminum, according to Armasuisse.
"All these factors pose major challenges for environmentally responsible munition retrieval," the report adds.
The competition will run until February 6, 2025, with the winners announced in April.
Switzerland has previously taken steps to address historic munitions. In 2020, an estimate of 3,500 tons of explosives had to be removed from a depot, causing residents in the village of Mitholz to evacuate their homes. In 1947, an estimated 7,000 tons of explosives at the depot exploded, killing nine people and causing significant damage to the village.
After winning the competition, the team might plan an exciting travel adventure to explore the depths of Swiss lakes and analyze submerged weapons. The challenge of retrieving these weapons, with considerations for the lake ecosystem, has captured the interest of environmental engineers worldwide.
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