Safety concerns about De Aar ammunition depot - 23 000 Tons of "old" Ammo.

**Karoobow** · 27-07-2021, 10:03

Originally Posted by Desperatezulu

A lot of allegedly's, apparently's and seriously questionable expert opinions being reported... No facts, firsthand info and verified expert comment yet.

While I can easily believe that there are munitions that have aged badly, these reports smack of hyperbole and fear-mongering. At a time when we have just had serious riots and looting.

Let's bear in mind these depots were located and designed for a possible mishap/explosion. The munitions are distributed among numerous concrete bunkers that are spaced out (have a look at Google maps and/or the aerial images in the articles). So we're not talking about a single, concentrated stockpile. These bunkers almost certainly have been designed to contain an explosion of their contents and minimise the blast damage. Unless the SADF planners and designers got it badly wrong, they will have been sited far enough apart to avoid a chain reaction of explosions.

So all the doomsday speculation is very misplaced IMHO.

Decaying/degraded explosive may be unstable but equally it is likely to be far less 'energetic' should it explode.

I agree, lets not worry about it. If it goes boom then it goes boom, we can find someone to blame when and if it actually happens no need to run around scaring people. ...

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**noost** · 27-07-2021, 10:03

Originally Posted by Desperatezulu

A lot of allegedly's, apparently's and seriously questionable expert opinions being reported... No facts, firsthand info and verified expert comment yet.

While I can easily believe that there are munitions that have aged badly, these reports smack of hyperbole and fear-mongering. At a time when we have just had serious riots and looting.

Let's bear in mind these depots were located and designed for a possible mishap/explosion. The munitions are distributed among numerous concrete bunkers that are spaced out (have a look at Google maps and/or the aerial images in the articles). So we're not talking about a single, concentrated stockpile. These bunkers almost certainly have been designed to contain an explosion of their contents and minimise the blast damage. Unless the SADF planners and designers got it badly wrong, they will have been sited far enough apart to avoid a chain reaction of explosions.

So all the doomsday speculation is very misplaced IMHO.

Decaying/degraded explosive may be unstable but equally it is likely to be far less 'energetic' should it explode.

Thanks for the insight. I hope you are correct that the structures are designed for such a scenario but I still do not have faith in the current gov to mitigate an explosion with "regular inspections".

If they cannot inspect and maintain their own K-9 units I have zero faith they are doing the same for some stale ammo.

**Luker** · 27-07-2021, 10:05

Originally Posted by A-R

We are not talking about small arms ammo here. There apparently are lots of old High Explosive munitions there, stuff that was still made with Nitro Glycerine and similar nasty stuff. Some of the ammo is too unstable to move. Allegedly some fluids have been leaking from the containers for years. So you can't move it and it sits amongst many tons of other explosive stuff that can also not be moved. This old stuff should have been moved and disposed of long ago when it was still safe to do so. That did not happen. The easy "solution" is to just let it sit as we don't know what to do about the matter... Until something happens...

Good luck to the fortunate BBBBBBEEEE certified contractor who gets the job to make the ammo safe. Hope he gets paid in advance, as he will most likely not be able to demand payment afterwards.

I would not stay within a 100km radius of any of these sites. Not even overnight.

What could possibly go wrong ...

Attachment 33517

**jager** · 27-07-2021, 11:27

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

Probably more along the lines of the Halifax explosion

Agreed. Still a very serious event, and you don't want to be within a few KM of it. (or own a building with lots of windows within the shockwave radius). But a far cry from the "military expert"'s (probably someone's uncle that was once in the army) claim of a 200km radius of total destruction.

**A-R** · 27-07-2021, 11:48

Originally Posted by noost

Thanks for the insight. I hope you are correct that the structures are designed for such a scenario but I still do not have faith in the current gov to mitigate an explosion with "regular inspections".

If they cannot inspect and maintain their own K-9 units I have zero faith they are doing the same for some stale ammo.

They will handle it in the normal democratic manner, meaning they will appoint a commission, who will occupy lavish offices and drive shiny new cars and hold long, well catered for meetings on the matter. Untill the money is all depleted, then they will ask for more money to complete the task. When/if it eventually blows up, they will say they addressed the matter, but it blew up before they could solve it. Just as everything else. Except the vaccination programme. There are some other forces at play there...

**Meteor** · 27-07-2021, 12:28

The site is 4-6km from De Aar.

Siener van Sophiatown does not agree with you guys

**VNI** · 27-07-2021, 12:43

Ok - here's an amazing suggestion. You pay R100 entry fee, you're allowed to take as much ammo as you can stuff into a single Woolworths burlap bag. One per customer.

**Kouros** · 27-07-2021, 12:52

https://www.google.com/search?q=expl...obile&ie=UTF-8

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**janfred** · 27-07-2021, 12:53

Originally Posted by Karoobow

I agree, lets not worry about it. If it goes boom then it goes boom, we can find someone to blame when and if it actually happens no need to run around scaring people. ...

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Why does it always have to be all or nothing? Why do you think that just because we do not fall for the hyperbole, we do not think it is serious?

It is not as bad as most seem to think and worse than what some think. It is almost never all or nothing.

All this hyperbole and overreaction by uninformed people that lack critical thinking is why we have all these lockdowns.

**Zuku** · 27-07-2021, 12:55

Originally Posted by VNI

Ok - You pay R100 entry fee, you're allowed to take as much ammo as you can stuff into a single Woolworths burlap bag.

Why pay and why one bag per customer.

Let all the Sport shooters and Hunters pull a Durban looting spree on the Depot.

Why dont they make redundant ammo available to public for sale seeing that there is a shortage of certain calibers