Bombs Linger Decades After a War Is Over-- Part 5: Increasingly Brittle Detonators

After World War II, international agreements began to require warring countries to deal with the problem of unexploded ordnance.  But efforts are not always effective.  According to a 2008 article in Der Spiegel, discoveries of unexploded ordnance are a weekly occurrence in Germany.  And, even worse, the buried bombs become even more dangerous as their detonators erode.

"In the past few years we've found that the detonators we take out of such bombs are increasingly brittle," bomb disposal expert Hans-Juergen Weise told the German paper.  "Recently we've had three extractors go off with a pissssh sound while they were being transported away; all it took was a bit of vibration.  One day such bombs will be so sensitive that no one will be able to handle them.."

--GreGen