UXO Site selected: Savanna Army Depot Activity, IL

General Area: Savanna, IL

Site Type/Program: RCWM sites (Non-stockpile)

Location:

Brief History:

Savanna Proving Ground was first commissioned in December 1918. The facility was used for proofing and testing of field artillery and ammunition. Approximately 13,165 acres were purchased along the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in Illinois. In March 1921, the name was changed to Savanna Ordnance Depot. The decision to make the Depot one of the largest single facilities in the country for the storage of ammunition was the beginning of an intensive construction program from 1939 to 1941. Through a number of name changes beginning in 1950, the U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command Ammunition School was established in 1977. The depot was reduced to Activity status in June 1976.



Range / Site Description:

Chemical agent munitions have never been manufactured or tested at the depot; however, mustard rounds have been stored and demilitarized. During the 1947 to 1950 and 1966 time frames, pits in areas 9 and 14 were used to burn 105millimeter and 155millimeter mustard (H)-filled rounds. Area 8 was used to burn leaking 75-millimeter H-filled rounds from 1947 to 1950. The 'fire pits”'were used to dispose of 36 seriously leaking H-filled 75millimeter rounds. The rounds were first detonated, then burned in the pits. Records further indicate that 319 mustard-filled I!%-millimeter rounds were shipped to Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado, in the 1960s.

CWM Sites
Area 14 - Original 155millimeter mustard-filled projectile burn site. U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit cites plan for burning 288 shells in November 1947. Approximately twelve rounds were burned (three at a time) on four different occasions during 1942 to 1945.
Area 8 - Used to burn leaking 75-millimeter mustard rounds (1947 to 1950). have been known as the fire pits. (See Fire Pits.)

The Savanna Army Depot Activity (SVADA), a National Priorities List installation because of explosives and conventional hazardous wastes, was a storage and transfer point for mustard-filled artillery projectiles.



Associated Munitions: Mustard filled projectiles -- 75mm,105mm, 155mm

Activities Completed: In 1979, USATHAMA completed the Installation Assessment to assess environmental quality. In 1982, an installation-wide environmental investigation was completed. During 1992, an initial surface magnetometer sweep and clearance of sites 8, 9, and 14 was performed by an unexploded ordnance (UXO)-qualified contractor and no chemical munitions were encountered.

Issues:

Other Information: Since the mode for mustard destruction was burning, and given . the sandy soil conditions and the seasonal flooding of sites 8, 9, and 14 within the Mississippi River floodplain, the potential for encountering residual mustard is remote.

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