What is often underestimated is the sheer amount of ammunition still found. On German mainland alone about 5000 WW2 bombs are destroyed every year. The <i>"Kampfmittelräumdienstfahrzeug"</i> is common sight at construction sites. Luckily accidents are rare and there are only between 1 and 2 self detonations per year.<p>From what I've heard from my Vietnamese colleagues the situation there is similar.<p><a href="https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/909216/a5448dd84ac14a5b36fb93f400a4dff1/WD-2-032-22-pdf-data.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/909216/a5448dd84ac14a...</a>
Related topic that I dug into was “how long did destroyed equipment lay around during WW2?”.<p>There were tank battles (especially in Russia) where hundreds of tanks on both side were effectively destroyed. Now add in trucks, towed and mobile guns, etc.<p>I was curious. Were they abandoned and scavenged for money after the war? Did they stay there and rust until years as the war? Did militaries take them for spare parts?<p>Turns out that equipment was very quickly cleaned up when possible. Usually within days/weeks.<p>Came across this incredibly detailed website with some amazing pictures and in depth information: <a href="https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/cleaning-up-after-wwii/" rel="nofollow">https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/cleaning-up-a...</a>
Much worse are cluster munitions. In Laos alone there are tens of millions of the 'bomblets', dropped in the 60s and 70s - without any war declared on Laos, still regularly killing and maiming thousands of people, primarily children. [1]<p>[1] - <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1186949348/us-cluster-munitions-civilian-casualties-laos" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1186949348/us-cluster-munitio...</a>
And then countless tons of ammunitions are dumped in seas all around the world (and in Swiss lakes). This Google map has info on chemical weapons dump site, stating 1.6 million tons dumped:<p><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=5.36829237857024%2C0&z=2&mid=1ALnyOrN5JQ8H50znwJqI_Sj8IwE" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=5.36829237857024%2C0...</a>
There are 1.4KT of bombs sitting onboard just 1 ship at the bottom of the river Thames today[1]. As for free fall bombs, my great grandfather recounted to me the time he stood on the banks of the river at Battersea and watched them fall "like raindrops" into the dark waters. There they all sit, deep in the mud[2].
[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery</a>
[2] <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2015/04/10/map-shows-where-all-bombs-fell-london-during-wwii" rel="nofollow">https://theworld.org/stories/2015/04/10/map-shows-where-all-...</a>
Here's one from last week, way way across the Pacific in Ireland:<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2yxkpj3ryo" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2yxkpj3ryo</a>
Do the explosive compounds decompose into more or less volatile things with time? Or are they relatively shelf stable and the bulk material has roughly the same potential as when it was dropped?
See also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery</a> : approximately 1,400 tonnes of explosives in shallow water close to London.