Dozens of unexploded ordnance and mines can be detonated for work on wind farms

Dozens of unexploded World War II bombs and mines may have to be blown up off the coast of Norfolk to pave the way for a massive wind farm.

Danish energy company Ørsted wants to build the £8 billion Hornsea 3 project in the North Sea, about 75 miles from Cromer, but needs to make sure there are no unexploded ordnance that could endanger construction workers.

Ørsted Wind Farm

The company applied to the government’s Maritime Management Organization for a maritime license.

READ MORE: Ørsted to install Tesla battery in Swardeston

This license would allow engineers to search beneath the waves for mines and bombs scattered across the ocean by German and Allied forces during World War II.

The company has requested permission to use up to five vessels to search for and remove any devices during the 60-day period between now and the end of December.

Options for dealing with found devices include detonating bombs and mines, running cables around them, or relocating them if it is deemed safe to do so.

Where they are blown up. Mammal protection techniques will be introduced in the area of ​​pollution removal, including “bubble curtains” and acoustic deterrent devices.

Bubble curtains are created by immersing a perforated tube in water and then pumping compressed air into it to create bubbles.

This reduces noise and vibration from explosions, which can be harmful to marine fauna.

Unexploded ordnance can still pose a threat to boats even though World War II ended almost 80 years ago.

In 2020, crew members of a crab boat off the coast of Cromer were injured after a string of crab pots disrupted a German bomb that had lain dormant for eight decades.

The Galwad-Y-Mor crab boat which was severely damaged by an explosion on the seabed north of Cromer (Photo: MAIB/Macduff Ship Design)

Last year, a bomb blocked the £121m Herring Bridge in Great Yarmouth, with work delayed by the discovery of a World War II-era device in a nearby riverbed.