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Lightning Protection Requirements for DOD Ammunition and Explosive Facilities
Jeffrey R. Denton, PE, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville
email: jeffrey.r.denton@usace.army.mil
Key Words: Lightning Protection System (LPS), Criteria, Requirements
Abstract
A properly maintained lightning protection system (LPS) is mandatory for ammunition and
explosives (AE) facilities within the Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD, through the
Department of Defense Explosive Safety Board (DDESB), has established explosive safety
standards designed to manage risks associated with DoD-titled AE by developing criteria to
prevent hazardous conditions to property and life. LPSs are part of those criteria to which the
DDESB has developed minimum explosives safety criteria for the design, installation, inspection,
testing, training, and maintenance of LPSs.
Lightning protection systems are part of the Explosive Safety Site Planning (ESSP) considerations
when an AE mission is under evaluation for DDESB approval. The requirements are more
stringent for a LPS protecting AE facilities than for an ordinary facility. Knowledge of these
requirements and the criteria source from which they originate will aid the AE mission in preparing
for the evaluation process to obtain DDESB approval. The intent of this paper is to inform the
reader of the LPS criterion that applies to AE facilities by looking further into the added
requirements. Furthermore, this paper will identify and discuss some of the more common LPS
deficiencies typically observed during an inspection process.
Introduction
The importance of lightning protection for AE facilities was catastrophically demonstrated on July
10, 1926 near Rockaway Township, NJ when a single lightning bolt struck a storage depot at the
Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Storage Depot, which was part of the larger Picatinny Arsenal.
The resulting explosion detonated more than 600,000 tons of explosives, killed 21 people,
destroyed roughly 200 buildings in a half-mile radius including the surrounding communities, and
resulted in excess of $600 million dollars based on today’s currency. In response to this tragic
event, the Seventieth Congress established the DDESB in 1928 and directed the Board with
oversight of the development, manufacture, testing, maintenance, demilitarization, handling,
transportation and storage of explosives. This congressional directive has led to explosive safety
standards for which compliance is mandatory for DOD AE missions.
A properly maintained LPS is part of those safety standards. A successful ESSP submission
requires documentation that demonstrates an LPS is in place, meets the required installation
