Ørsted seeks licence for wind farm unexploded bomb search

Danish energy firm Ørsted wants to build its £8bn Hornsea 3 project in the North Sea, some 75 miles from Cromer - but needs to make sure there is no unexploded ordnance which would endanger the construction workers.

An Ørsted wind farm

The company has applied to the government's Marine Management Organisation for a marine licence.

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That licence would allow engineers to search below the waves for mines and bombs which were scattered across the ocean by German and Allied Forces during the Second World War.

The company has asked for permission to use up to five vessels to look for and deal with any devices over a 60 day period between now and the end of December.

Options to deal with any devices found include detonating the bombs and mines, routing cables around them or relocating them, if deemed safe to do so.

Where they are blown up. techniques would be put in place to protect mammals in the area of clearance operations, including 'bubble curtains' and acoustic deterrent devices.

Bubble curtains are created by lowering a perforated pipe into the water and then pumping compressed air into it, to create bubbles.

That reduces the noise and vibrations created by explosions, which could be harmful to marine wildlife.

Unexploded ordnance can still pose a danger to boats, despite the Second World War having ended almost 80 years ago.

In 2020, crew members on a crabbing boat off the coast of Cromer suffered injuries after a crab pot string disturbed a German bomb which had lain dormant for eight decades.

The Galwad-Y-Mor crab boat, which was badly damaged after an explosion on the seabed north of Cromer (Image: MAIB/Macduff Ship Design)

And last year, a bomb caused hold-ups to Great Yarmouth's £121m Herring Bridge, with work delayed by the discovery of a Second World War device on the nearby riverbed.