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Hitherto the disposal of munitions was mostly concerned with obsolete stocks, but the political developments in the states of the former Soviet Union have necessitated the disposal of vast quantities of current and obsolete stocks. Obviously, open burning/open detonation cannot be used on such a large scale, not least for environmental considerations.
There are two main technical problems associated with the disposal of munitions on the scale required. First, the materials are not simple wastes or rubbish. Their handling, storage, packaging and transportation are subject to very rigid regulation, and justifiably so, for obvious reasons. Second, they are very valuable goods, for which a high price has been paid by the holding states' economic systems. Mere destruction would mean the irretrievable loss of the value invested. But therein lies the problem. Goods like steel or brass scrap can easily be reclaimed, but hypergols and other rocket fuels (for instance) represent a true chemical challenge, while, under certain conditions, explosives may be diverted to civilian use. This, in summary, is the problem that the present book deals with: the two-pronged attack involving demilitarization and recycling technologies.
List of contents
1. Demilitarisation Technology.- Main Issues of Rocket Propellant Components Storage and Disposal.- Demilitarisation in Germany.- Demilitarisation of the Nuclear Weapons Located in Ukraine in Nuclear Safe and Environment Compatible Manner: Scientific &Technological Aspects.- Procedures for the Demilitarisation of Gun Ammunitions and Pioneer Munitions.- Demilitarisation Technology and Examples of Conversion.- 2. Recycling Technologies for Explosives.- Recycling and Disposal Techniques for Energetic Materials.- The Extraction of TNT from Till Term of Storage Ammunition.- Biotechnological Aspects of Explosives Utilisation.- Reuse, Reclamation or Destruction of Large Solid Rocket Motors: Lessons Learned in the USA.- Colloid Biotechnology for Propellant Destruction with Utilisation of the Processing Products.- 3. Recycling and Reuse of Liquid Rocket Fuel.- Comprehensive Utilisation of Liquid Fuel Constituents for Rockets.- Economically Reasonable Ways of Utilisation of Rocket Fuel, 1,1-Dimethylhydrazine, to Usable Products.- Chemical Processing of Fluid Propellant Heptyl: Synthesis and Properties of the Surface Active Substances Obtained from Heptyl.- Polymers Based on Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.- Utilisation of Oxidantfor Rocket Fuel, Dinitrogen Tetroxide, as a New Starting Material for the Synthesis of Expandable Graphite.- Closing Remarks.- Affiliations and Addresses of Keyspeakers.
