Dedicated Sessions Offshore

For large scale maritime infrastructure projects, like Offshore Wind Development, the remnants of recent armed conflicts are generally recognized as a major factor in terms of safety, budget and timeline. Bringing the risk for people and assets to minimum poses challenges to site developers, UXO specialists and geoscientists alike. The current investigation approaches including sonar and magnetometry often reveal numerous potential targets in the shallow sub-surface. An unknown number of finds will likely appear to be false positives. On the other hand deeper buried UXO may not be detected. Continuous effort is being made to improve the detection capabilities and to improve precision in object description. This to tailor detailed inspection and potential removal of threats only where relevant. Although final removal from marine realm seems minimal obligation, this imposes a risk to the environment too. Unintended or intended detonation impact a.o. Fish and marine mammals. Technologies to minimize the impact of removal are being implemented and further developed.

The extent of the detailed search and further measures on potential UXO is a risk based decision and hence not entirely objective. UXO specialists define search criteria and threshold levels in relation to what is considered an acceptable risk. The ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practical) principle has not a unified meaning and leads variable approaches due to regulations (states) and projects (environment and risk appreciation).