Explosive and pyrotechnic wastes management practices

Giovanni Begue (1) , Lionel Aufauvre (1)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques

In the life cycle of explosives and pyrotechnics, disposal operations are not to be forgotten. This is most critical when one needs to get rid of large amounts of materials or articles due to overrun of shelf life. It can be the case when non-conform products are generated without possibilities of reprocessing or more frequently in situation of decommissioning unused explosives which will be considered as wastes. Due to the nature of these wastes thorough regulations as well as various technical processes have been developed for their control and elimination with high safety considerations. In this frame, the disposal operations are not only limited to the destruction itself but could usually cover other operations like transportation, collection, sorting, neutralization or residues and effluents treatment. In this work, we illustrate some operations and give examples of different techniques for the disposal of mining or military explosives, fireworks, pyrotechnic articles for vehicles or for marine distress signals. Several practices in place are also described and their advantages and drawbacks are commented.

Domains: Environmental Sciences; Environmental Engineering

Giovanni Begue, Lionel Aufauvre. Explosive and pyrotechnic wastes management practices. 44. International Pyrotechnics Society seminar (EUROPYRO 2019), Jun 2019, Tours, France. pp.394-399. ⟨ineris-03237729⟩