International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions (IDUM)

Terrance Long, speaking at OPCW's Fourth Review Conference.

IDUM’s mission is to promote the creation of an Internationally Binding Treaty on all classes (biological, chemical, conventional, and radiological) of underwater munitions. This treaty would encourage countries to collaborate on underwater munitions research, science, and policy including environmentally friendly remediation in the affected regions. IDUM is an internationally recognized body where all stakeholders (diplomats, government departments including external affairs, environmental protection and fishery, fossil fuel and fishing industry, salvage divers, militaries, and others) can come together in an open and transparent forum to discuss underwater munitions, seek solutions, and promote international cooperation on related issues.

"Our seas and oceans are dying from more than 50 years of global dumping of chemical and conventional munitions in our waters. Underwater munitions pollute the marine environment with toxic chemicals, which impact our health and the environment. Today there is a “need to clean” both chemical and conventional weapons based on potential human health impacts, as well as environmental implications through depleting fish stocks. Underwater Munitions are “Point Source Emitters of Pollution,” which means that in most cases when “we remove the source – we remove the problem.” Off-the-shelf-technology developed by the private sector, and the military's unmanned systems programs already exist to detect, map, recover and dispose of underwater munitions and the toxic waste they create."

— CHEMSEA Findings Report 2013 [2]

Since the creation of the foundation IDUM has successfully hosted five international dialogues on Sea Dumped Weapons (SDW) related issues. Their work is recognized by inter-governmental institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The UN identified their work in the 2014 ‘UN Resolution on Sea Dumped Munitions’ and in the 2013 Secretary General’s report titled ‘Cooperative Measures on Sea Dumped Chemical Munitions.‘ In 2014, the OPCW report titled ‘Third Review Conference of State Parties’ outlined the need for international cooperation on SDWs. Apart from working to bring together the various stakeholders that can create effective policy responses to SDWs, IDUM has been active in collaborative research as well. Their work seeks to expand knowledge on the detrimental impacts of SDWs, as well as detection, and removal procedures and technologies. IDUM have published a two-part co-edited journal in collaboration with the Polish Scientific Committee titled ‘The Legacy of Underwater Munitions: Policy and the Science of Assessment, Evaluation of Impacts and Potential Response’ and have helped to create two international documentaries titled ‘Deadly Depths‘ (which won best international documentary at the German Green Screen Film Fest in 2014), and ‘Foot Prints of War.’

DAIMON (Decision Aid for Marine Munitions)

The project which aimed to support maritime, defense and environmental administrations in making decisions on management strategies for dumped chemical and conventional warfare in the Baltic Sea, and the Skagerrak to assess the risk associated with corroding warfare objects, such as dumped containers filled with munitions.[3]

CHEMSEA (Chemical Munitions Search & Assessment)

A flagship project of the Baltic Sea Region Strategy, financed by the EU Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. The project was initiated in autumn 2011 and will last through early 2014. It has a budget of €4.5M, which is part-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund.[4]

MODUM - NATO Science for Peace and Security

The project with the motto "Towards the monitoring of dumped munitions threat" aims the establishment of the monitoring network observing Chemical Weapons dumpsites in the Baltic Sea, using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)and Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROVs), and utilizing existing research vessels of partner institutions as launching platforms. The project consists of the test phase, which will serve to choose best available solutions for the difficult Baltic Sea environment, Survey phase, which will locate actual objects of concern, and monitoring phase, which will concentrate on the collection of environmental data close to the objects of concern. The project will concentrate on three representative areas chosen during the first phase of the project and will provide a solution for expanding such a network to all areas of concern in the Baltic Sea area. Performed monitoring activities will include habitat status evaluation, fish health studies, and modeling of possible threats to adjacent areas.[5]

The Pentarius Deep Sub Project

The Deep Sub submersible is engineered to go to 36,000′ of depth – 16,000 PSI or 1100 Atmospheres. The pressure hull is built of carbon fiber with an aluminum dome at the back end and a fused quartz dome at the front. The fused quartz is a man-made ingot that has taken over three years to machine from a 2800 lb ingot to a 550 lb hemisphere. The dome offers an unprecedented view – no one on the seafloor has ever had a view like this. The rest of the sub is “flooded” – water is around the components. Important items are filled with oil but are still exposed to the full pressure. This includes the batteries, servos, and electric motors that are used for motion on the seafloor. Syntactic foam, a special buoyancy material, makes up the rest of the volume of the sub. The sub’s instruments include high-def sonar, video, and chemical sensors. Together, they will allow scientists to paint a full picture of the deep environment based on an unprecedented amount of raw data.[6]

• United Nations
• Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• European Union
• General Inspectorate for Environment
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Helsinki Commission
• Polish Naval Academy
• Finland Ministry of the Environment
• Swedish Coast Guard