Unexploded Ordnance Cleanup Costs

Implications of Alternative Protocols

Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Carmen Mendez

ResearchPublished Jul 11, 2005

With continued military downsizing and base closures, cleanup of unexploded ordnance (UXO) at former weapons ranges has become one of the most costly environmental problems the military faces. This study examines cost estimation for UXO remediation conducted at closed military installations, the difficulties of accurately estimating cleanup costs, and the major effects that different cleanup requirements and methods can have on cost. It assesses previous estimates of UXO cleanup costs and evaluates the strengths and limitations of the military’s preferred cost-estimation tool, the remedial Action Cost Engineering Requirements (RACER) software package. Using a modified method of implementing RACER, the study shows how costs change depending on which cleanup protocol is followed. The results show that the choice of cleanup protocol has major cost implications.

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Gibson, Jacqueline MacDonald and Carmen Mendez, Unexploded Ordnance Cleanup Costs: Implications of Alternative Protocols. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG244.html.
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