Who's up for an easy £5 million?

[Mark 5]

I’m going to need a drysuit, some gaffer tape and a couple of wire coat hangers and I’ll be there

Pack some extra undies too, just in case like, how you deal with the floaters, I'm not sure.

 

[Mark 5]

It's not I'm getting impatient, I accept it will be one almighty explosion and no doubt serious damage to surrounding areas/properties but for CS just blow the damn thing sky high, not like you need a lot off explosives if falling masts could set it off.

A huge evacuation would need to take place and structural engineers all OKs for a few weeks afterwards but the islanders would be out of the Shadow of the Tower so to speak.

Anyhows I like Sheppey but large parts of it could do with a face lift.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Dont we have a Navy that needs to test some of the latest Whiz Bangs ,,,


Ah , just read the article ,,, not so handy then ,,, thought it was way too simple.

Having had some run ins with disposing of unstable explosives in awkward locations in the past, I don't think it's beyond the wit of man to build a containment structure to moderate or redirect the blast from a controlled detonation...

But it would be an engineering feat on a par with building the Troll Platform and then placing the Chernobyl Sarcophagus on top of it.

The MOD would be better organising a competition to come up with ideas to sort it out once and for all. Prize, £5 million (payable on satisfactory completion of the job). Perhaps Elon Musk would like to have a go.

I don't think £5m would touch the sides...

I think the truth is that they have long since calculated that it's cheaper ("a prudent use of public funds") to:

Firstly, just keep hoping for the best.

Secondly, if it does ever go up flooding/shattering large swathes of Essex:

• Send a spokesperson on the BBC to say something fatalistic about how this was unavoidable and unexpected,

• Make a lowball pay out offer to the affected individuals,

• Distribute the payout via a highly burecratic process that heavily discourages people from claiming.

Call me a cynic, but you're not telling me they haven't run the numbers on that by now.

 

[redlig]

Having had some run ins with disposing of unstable explosives in awkward locations in the past, I don't think it's beyond the wit of man to build a containment structure to moderate or redirect the blast from a controlled detonation...

But it would be an engineering feat on a par with building the Troll Platform and then placing the Chernobyl Sarcophagus on top of it.



I don't think £5m would touch the sides...

I think the truth is that they have long since calculated that it's cheaper ("a prudent use of public funds") to:

Firstly, just keep hoping for the best.

Secondly, if it does ever go up flooding/shattering large swathes of Essex:

• Send a spokesperson on the BBC to say something fatalistic about how this was unavoidable and unexpected,

• Make a lowball pay out offer to the affected individuals,

• Distribute the payout via a highly burecratic process that heavily discourages people from claiming.

Call me a cynic, but you're not telling me they haven't run the numbers on that by now.

And if and when it all goes T*ts up they can send a spokesman to say " We will learn from that"

 

[Keith 66]

Most military and commercial high explosives are unaffected by water, being that they have fuel and oxidiser in the same chemical.

Buried in wet soil, there are natural bugs that will very happily munch away at the explosive composition, but in flowing seawater that's not so practical.

I believe the issue is fuse deterioration, with the combination of seawater, brass and lead azide (which explodes with a whack with a hammer), allows the formation of other azides (which need more like a penny dropping to set them off).

Reading an article a few years back British Geological survey record approx 5 - 6 underwater explosions every year that can be explained as likely cause spontaneous detonation of old munitions due to formation of copper azide formed by electrolysis.

The Crab fishing vessel Galwad-Y-Mor was blown up off the north norfolk coast in 2020 by a WW2 German bomb that detonated under her when they were hauling a pot string, Severe life changing injuries to her crew, the MAIB report makes interesting & sobering reading, link here,https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sub...ting-vessel-galwad-y-mor-and-injuries-to-crew

 

[addjunkie]

When I first went to sea, I was on coasters sometimes carrying coals to the the power stations of the South East. We passed the wreck being discussed many times, if I-remember correctly we used to anchor waiting to berth quite close by. The big bang was never mentioned or discussed yet back then it was really quite common for fisherman to pop the odd old mine up. Later I was on in a gas tanker up the gulf, the big bang was discussed daily and its probably more to good luck it didn't go bang. From 83 till I retired everything I worked on was capable of making a very very big bang if it went wrong!

 

[premmington]

Reading an article a few years back British Geological survey record approx 5 - 6 underwater explosions every year that can be explained as likely cause spontaneous detonation of old munitions due to formation of copper azide formed by electrolysis.

The Crab fishing vessel Galwad-Y-Mor was blown up off the north norfolk coast in 2020 by a WW2 German bomb that detonated under her when they were hauling a pot string, Severe life changing injuries to her crew, the MAIB report makes interesting & sobering reading, link here,https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sub...ting-vessel-galwad-y-mor-and-injuries-to-crew

Yes - I seen this reported before - live 43miles from Cromer - it was in our local papers at the time!