Environmental security of the adriatic coastal sea floor

Abstract

The coastal sea floor is littered with many of man made objects and materials including a variety of ammunition. In addition, sediments in ports, harbors and marinas have increased concentrations of chemicals used as biocides in antifouling paints. This report presents locations within the Adriatic Sea and Mediterranean as a whole, that are found to be contaminated by different ammunition. In order to be able to establish if an object on the sea floor contains some sort of threat material (explosives, chemical agent), a system using a neutron sensor installed within an unmanned underwater vessel has been developed and tested. When positioned above an object such a system can inspect the object for the presence of a threat material by using alpha particle tagged neutrons from a sealed tube d+t neutron generator. The same system can also be used to inspect ship hulls, either to detect potential anomalies attached to the hull, or to determine the nature of materials within hull, especially of sunken ships.