Just Kill the Motherfucker

[ProfessorGAC]

16. When I Was Consulting...

...on the decommissioning of a shuttered arsenal, we detonated old ordinance & 4aw HX. (Mostly PETN, TNT & HMX plus some lead azide.)
We'd detonate 800-1,000 pounds at a time, and we'd use two 6 foot strands of primacord.
I was responsible for designing the order based on detonation velocity and the microsecond timers to set off lower velocity stuff on the outer ring, and the highest energy/brisance stuff on the interior.
Using the earth as our deflector, the point was to shape the charge straight up. A lot of the ordinance had shrapnel and we were only a mile from a highly trafficked state highway. Shrapnel going sideways would be bad.
Over the course of 2 summers (May thru September on weekends) we set off over 150,000# of stuff too old to transport.
It was an awesome part time g8g.