Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets, recently announced that it achieved U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) accreditation for its Advanced Geophysical Classification (AGC) quality and technical platforms, enabling Arcadis to identify, test and remove explosive hazards at defense sites and avoid costly excavation of non-explosive debris.
Arcadis was accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to perform AGC under the DoD AGC Program to perform complex subsurface munitions identification work. Accreditation is based on the internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025 standard and is achieved through a multi-step process including the review, assessment and on-site audit of the Arcadis Quality Management System and demonstration of ability to classify subsurface metallic objects as munitions at a DoD test site.
AGC is an innovative approach to munitions response remediation activities because it classifies subsurface objects as unexploded ordnance potentially containing explosive hazards or non-hazardous materials that can be left in the ground. Using AGC significantly reduces the number of subsurface objects requiring intrusive investigation and reduces remediation completion costs. The DoD anticipates AGC will significantly reduce their environmental liability by millions of dollars and will accelerate the cleanup of defense sites.
AGC has been successfully used at sites across the U.S. for the DoD Environmental Securities Technology Certification Program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy, including a contract with the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center Huntsville to locate and safely remove World War II-era military ordnance from residential and recreational areas at Fort Pierce, Florida.
Aracadis Advanced Geophysical Classification Equipment
