Tanks and cannons that once were used to fight enemies now face a greater foe ? rust, corrosion and contaminants that could pollute groundwater.
“The soil is clay, so there?s no real harm there. But you know what? I live in [Harford] County too,” said William Atwater, director of the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Atwater gave a presentation on the museum, the largest collection of tanks and artillery in the world, at Fort Meade as part of its monthly lecture series.
Atwater spoke on the challenges of maintaining the equipment, some of which contains lead-based paints and other contaminants, including oil and trace amounts of radium.
Those contaminants present a burden on his staff, as 60 percent of the ordnance still needs to be decontaminated.
It also needs to be done by 2012, when the U.S. Army moves the museum to Fort Lee in Petersburg, Va., as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program.
“The question is, how are we going to move stuff like the M-1 tanks that weigh 70 tons each,” said Atwater, a former Marine captain who frequently has appeared on the History Channel.
To rid the tanks of the lead-based paint, workers use water pressurized to 43,000 pounds per square inch.
Chemicals are added to the water to harden the surface and protect it from the elements. Atwater said many of his artifacts have to sit outside because of limited space, exposing them to rust.
The challenge of cleaning up the military?s past, when officials were less environmentally conscious, is felt at Fort Meade as well.
The fort is cleaning up sites in and around the installation contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals, some of which caused by buried unexploded munitions.
