September 8, 2019:
During early August Russia suffered three explosions caused by elderly or defective munitions. Two of the explosions took place at the same storage facility in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia. This remote area is literally in the middle of Russia, halfway between the Polish border and the Pacific Ocean to the east. This is an ideal place to store old ammo because Krasnoyarsk comprises about ten percent of Russia’s land area and only two percent of the population. The easiest way in or out is the Trans-Siberian railroad.
The first explosion occurred at the Kamenka ammo depot on August 5th. This caused one death and at least ten injured. Some 16,000 civilians were forced to leave their homes to avoid the possibility of injury from shells being propelled by explosions into their communities. All these evacuees had to spend nearly a week at least 20 kilometers from the depot. Fortunately, the weather is comfortably warm this time of year. The rest of the year it is freezing or close to it.
The first explosion was blamed on human error, which is common during efforts to remove and dispose of elderly and unstable ammo. Russia still relies on conscripts to keep the military up to strength and even though a few experienced ammo handling personnel are available to supervise, the actual work of handling this stuff is done by unskilled labor. Someone made a mistake and what was described as a “human error” caused a fire and explosion which quickly spread. One unfortunate side effect of that was to damage the lightning protection system. Lightning strikes are common during the warm weather and a common cause of forest fires in this heavily forested region. While the cleanup was going on lightning struck a week later causing a second fire and more explosions.
Meanwhile, far to the west, off the northern coast there was another accidental explosion but this time it was a new, experimental Skyfall cruise missile that had a nuclear-powered engine. Apparently one of these explosions occurred while was trying to recover a Skyfall missile that had gone down in coastal waters during a recent flight test. The missile exploded on August 8th after it had been found and taken out of the water and onto a salvage ship. Their technical personnel were seeking to safely remove and store the nuclear power supply. Something went wrong and seven people died in the explosion and several more got large doses of radiation. In the nearby port city of Severodvinsk, radiation detection systems showed a spike in radiation. Medications (iodine tablets) were suddenly in great demand. The Russian government said there was no problem but then ordered that radiation monitoring data was unavailable in the area for a while. Before that Russia shared its radiation readings with neighboring countries. Now that was temporarily “suspended” right after a nuclear accident off the coast. Other countries in the region did not show sustained high radiation levels, but would still like to know what is going on.
Skyfall was using a type of nuclear power that is often used in space satellites and, while dangerous, the radiation released is not long-lasting or plentiful. But the spike in radioactivity was noted next door in Norway and Russia was once more accused of trying to cover up the details of the accident, as they had so infamously done in 1986. At first, it was reported that the nuclear-contaminated explosion had killed two and wounded at least six, but later it was revealed that dozens of people nearby were treated for low-level radiation exposure and that a lot more people were killed. Some civilians were evacuated and it may take a while for all the details to emerge because the nuclear propulsion tech in the missile is top secret even though the basic concepts and applications are decades old. The Russians were the heaviest users of this tech, often using it to power remote, unmanned communications facilities in areas like Krasnoyarsk, the Far East and Central Asia. After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the location of many of these remote nuclear-powered facilities was lost (or simply forgotten). Some were later stumbled upon by locals who were unaware of the danger and came down with radiation sickness which caused a local panic and investigations that revealed the existence of the “lost” nuclear power sources. Some of these were in new nations that were created when the Soviet Union came apart so it was an embarrassing international incident for the Russians. The Soviet Union considered the nuclear power sources top secret and when portions of the Soviet Union became independent a lot top secret information was not part of the deal.
Speaking of secrets, not all the elderly and accident-prone Russian ammo is in Russia, or even Russian made. In November 2018 there was a fatal accident involving elderly or defective Russian ammunition. In this case, it was in a country that is, next to Russia, the largest user of Russian built or designed ammo; India. This incident took place in an Indian munitions depot where elderly and defective ammo was sent to be disposed of, usually via controlled explosion. The ammo in question was 23mm autocannon shells which, while not old, were considered flawed and production, at an Indian plant, had been halted in 2014 and existing 23mm rounds of that design were ordered destroyed. This is done by placing the ammo in a pit, covering them with sandbags and then blowing them up with an explosive charge. While the 23mm shells were being moved to the destruction site some went off during handling. Six people were killed.
India has long (for over 50 years) produced Russian weapons and ammo under license. Russian production standards were never very high, especially for military ammo, but the Russians considered Indian standards ever worse. In the case of the Indian made 23mm cannon rounds the problem was several incidents of the 23mm shells detonating while being handled. In 2016 there was another incident in which defective anti-tank mines (their explosives were seeping out and some mines had become unstable) went off leaving sixteen dead. More recently it was defective 155mm artillery ammo.
Earlier in 2018, for the second time since 2011, there was a major accident at a Russian ammo depot in the Ural Mountains (near the town of Pugachyovo). The 2018 incident was much smaller than the one in 2011. The 2018 incident did not kill anyone and only about 2,000 civilians had to be evacuated while nearly 500 firefighters put out the fires and prevented more damage. In mid-2011 this ammo depot, used for the destruction of elderly ammo, contained over 150,000 shells and about half of them blew up after someone apparently tossed a lit cigarette into the dry vegetation and it started a large bushfire. The 2018 accident began when someone was illegally clearing dry grass with a fire that got out of control and spread to the ammo depot.
The 2011 accident caused about 30,000 civilians to be evacuated and nearly a hundred were injured by shell fragments or fire. After the 2011 accident the base was repaired and destruction of the remaining elderly (and dangerous to move) ammo continued, often via controlled explosions that the local civilians heard regularly. When they hear (or see) this stuff going off at night they know it is an uncontrolled explosion and depending on how close they are to the explosions, or intact ammo warehouses, it is time to run for cover.
While two accidents like this in one place are rare, these ammo storage site fires and massive explosions continue despite the fact that the Russian armed forces are a fifth the size they were when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. No matter, a lot of old ammo is still “in service”. For example, in mid-2013 there was an ammo explosion in Central Russia (near the city of Chapayevsk). A fire began in an ammo storage base, forcing the evacuation of over 7,000 people. Two people died and 48 were wounded. It took over a week to deal with the aftereffects. Five warehouses were destroyed and over 20,000 shells, thrown (some for over a kilometer) clear were collected for disposal. The damage cost the military over $5 million. Again the cause was Cold War era ammo that had not been demobilized yet.
Disasters like this still occur in Russia, largely because as recently as 2012 there was still over six million tons of ammunition in storage, much of it obsolete and in need of disposal. Since 2012 about a third of that old ammo has been taken care of in places like Kamenka, where the latest accident took place. Getting rid of this stuff is expensive and the government has not allocated enough money to get it done quickly. Russia does not like to publicize this problem and is seeking to get the ancient ammo disposed of as quickly and quietly as possible.
These explosions are also a common problem in countries that have long used ammunition bought from Russia or China. During the communist period, as per the Soviet custom, old ammunition was not destroyed as soon as in the West but kept around in case of a national emergency. Communist countries were poor. It made sense to keep those old mortar and artillery shells (plus bombs and military explosives) for the inevitable war with the enemies of socialism. But the chemical reactions taking place in propellants and explosives, after these items are manufactured, eventually cause dangerous side effects. Over time the compounds that make the propellants and explosives deteriorate and change. This renders the propellants and explosives useless or, in many cases, unstable and very dangerous.
Elderly and unstable ammunition has resulted in many spontaneous explosions on Russian ships as well as ammunition depots. There was another one similar to the Chapayevsk incident in 2012. That one was traced to human error. Because not enough money was spent to properly take care of what is held in storage the workforce was often untrained and careless. Part of this problem arises from the army use of conscripts or minimum-wage civilians to take care of these ammo storage sites. The 2012 accident was traced to a soldier who carelessly tossed aside a lit cigarette, which led to the disastrous fire and explosions.
The danger is not over once the explosions have died down. Many shells and rockets are thrown, unexploded, hundreds of meters from the storage area. These will have to be carefully removed before someone, or an animal disturbs the munition and sets it off. Some of these munitions are buried in the wreckage of damaged or destroyed structures.
Russia has long had problems with elderly, and cranky, munitions. One saving grace was that Russia tended to put these depots in isolated areas, so the casualties were low. However, the Russians took the hint during the 1990s and set about disposing of huge quantities of Cold War surplus munitions.
After the 1990s ammunition explosions like this became increasingly common because of the ammo getting older and not enough trained ammo disposal personnel available. Until about 2010 there was usually one big explosion somewhere, and 10-20 smaller ones, each year. There are still some small ones, but far fewer of the big ones.
The aging munitions not only became more unstable but also very dangerous just to move. Russia had more of a problem with this than China, which could afford to dispose of older munitions and had much less older stuff stored away. This sort of thing has been the cause of many spontaneous explosions on Russian ships and in ammunition depots, even before the Cold War ended in 1991. These accidents also happen while efforts to safely dispose of it are underway.
Most East European nations that lost their Russian imposed communist governments in 1989 wanted no more of doing things “the Russian way.” But getting rid of that legacy was not easy. In 2008 an Albanian ammunition processing facility north of the capital exploded. There were over 200 casualties, including at least nine dead, largely among the 4,000 civilians living nearby. Over 300 buildings were destroyed, and over 2,000 damaged. The facility was used to destroy old ammo, which was a condition for Albania to join NATO. There were about 100,000 tons of old ammunition in Albania, and the destroyed facility dismantled 500-600 tons of the stuff each month. The explosion in Albania probably occurred during the process of extracting explosives from the old ammo. This can be tricky, as the least little spark, can set this stuff off. Worse, older ammo in an unstable state can go off without a spark. This sort of thing is what makes the crudely made Islamic terrorist explosives so dangerous.
Since the 1990s there were more explosions worldwide that involved elderly Russian or Chinese made ammo that was stored improperly. After 2000 the Russians, embarrassed by this as they sought to sell new weapons and munitions to old customers, made an effort to help nations, especially in Africa and the Middle East, who still had a lot of that old stuff in storage, on how to inspect and detect ammo that was dangerous. The Russians also provided help in safely disposing of the older, unstable munitions.
Despite that effort, embarrassing accidents still took place, although not as frequently. In early 2014 an explosion in a military ammunition warehouse in southern Congo killed at least twenty and more than fifty were wounded. The cause was a lightning strike that started a fire that reached some of the ammo before firefighting efforts could deal with it. This took place near Congo’s third-largest city, Mbuji-Mayi. Like many African countries, Congo received ammo supplies from Western and Russian sources after colonial rulers left in the 1960s. A lot of this ammo was never used and has simply grown old and unstable. Heeding advice from Russian and Chinese arms experts, the African nations were making an effort to improve the security of these ammo dumps, to make theft (which means moving this dangerous stuff) or spontaneous detonation (from age and heat) less likely.
Russia could speak from recent experience in such matters. From 2008-12 Russia suffered 17 of these ammo depot explosions, all of which included some fatalities. While there were five of these incidents in 2012, there were only two in 2013 and even fewer since 2014. The new safety measures were less enthusiastically embraced outside Russia, especially in parts of Africa where fighting was still going on and chaos was the rule. For example, the Congo had planned to upgrade ammo depots to better handle lightning problems, but the Mbuji-Mayi ammo storage site had not yet been upgraded to deal with that. By 2017 Congo was drifting towards another civil war and ammo warehouse safety was no longer a top priority.
Africa has been the scene of many of these explosions, largely because of the climate (often hot and damp) and the laxest safety standards. Another problem in Africa is that ammo storage facilities are often in urban areas. Thus there tend to be hundreds of civilian deaths. As is common in Africa, military units are often based inside major cities, the better to deal with any attempts to overthrow the government. Large quantities of ammunition are often stored on these urban bases, so the troops can quickly handle any contingency. African armies tend to be poorly trained and led, which often expresses itself in sloppy safety procedures and hazardous handling of munitions.
Even recently manufactured ammo can accidentally detonate if not stored or handled properly. You cannot be too careful about how you store, and handle this stuff. For example, in 2010 four Ukrainian sailors were seriously injured when two 30mm cannon shells spontaneously exploded. Actually, those shells didn't go off entirely without warning. The Navy reported that the shells were old, beyond their “use by” date, and were probably set off by vibrations ships generate during training exercises. But the stuff seemed OK and it seemed a shame to just throw it away.
Oh, that brings up another issue; the once popular practice of dumping old ammo at sea. This was widely practiced at the end of World War II and even included chemical weapons. What was not realized that a lot that dumped stuff retained its lethality for many decades. This was discovered when fishing boats or those surveying the ocean bottom discovered, often with explosive effects, that the old ammo was still a danger. The chemical weapons announced their continued presence and lethality by leaking into fishing waters and ending up in fish and the fish ended up caught, cooked and consumed.