RECREATING AN ISLAND PARADISE IS HARDLY A VACATION IN HAWAII

摘要

Removing unexploded ordnance from a former military site may be routine nowadays, but not when the dangerous debris is spread throughout a 22,000-acre remote South Pacific island. "This has never been done before on this scale," says Tom McCabe, program manager for Pasadena, Calif.-based Parsons Corp. The contractor and its joint venture partner, unexploded ordnance disposal technology firm UXB International Inc., Ashburn, Va., won the $400-million, design-build contract from the U.S. Navy in 1997 to clean up Kaho'olawe. The 11 x 7-mile Hawaiian island lies six miles off the west coast of Maui. The Navy used it from 1945 until 1990 for air- and sea-based target practice, leaving a trail of ordnance, from small arms munitions to 500-lb World War Ⅱ era bombs and 1,500-lb nuclear simulators. "Every step you take there, you have to watch for ordnance," says McCabe.