Star Staff Writer
Contractors doing cleanup work at McClellan Wednesday afternoon found a 155 mm howitzer round, a type that was used in chemical training at the former military base.
No explosives are in the round, which is more than two feet long and weighs 90 to 100 pounds. It was found in a closed area of the new Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge.
The round could contain some sort of chemical agent, said Gary Harvey, site manager for McClellan’s transition force. A similar object found in 1993 was found to have groundwater inside
“These ones were never shot,” Harvey said. “They would take them outside and open them up to get at the agent and then … do all the things — detection, decontamination.”
The round has been X-rayed, and a mobile unit from the U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit, based in Aberdeen, Md., is expected to perform further tests Saturday.
Contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District were cleaning up scrap from past Army training when they found the ordnance, Harvey said.
He said local officials were told of the find Wednesday night. The Army received criticism earlier this week for waiting to reveal that a vial possibly containing blister agent was found at McClellan on Nov 21.
“While we were not making it a secret, we didn’t get it out fast enough,” Harvey said. “We’re trying to make sure we don’t get accused of sitting on anything.”
Fort McClellan closed in 1999, and is being cleaned and redeveloped for local use.