Yesterday, August 26, a military bomb disposal team removed a 1,000-pound bomb found during preparation of the site of a former oil refinery in Kaohsiung City.
Workers discovered the bomb at around 8:30 a.m. during excavation work in preparation for the construction of a new TSMC factory in Nanzi Science Park. The Kaohsiung City Construction Department immediately notified the police and military.
Military officials examined the bomb and found it to be incomplete and missing its fuse. They concluded that the bomb did not pose an explosion hazard and took it to an ammunition depot in Zuoying County for storage and eventual destruction.
Military bomb disposal experts determined that the bomb was a 1,000-pound US AN/M65 aerial bomb and was likely dropped during a US Air Force bombing raid in World War II. At the time, the site was home to a Japanese-operated fuel refinery.
After World War II, the Nationalist government of the Republic of China took control of Taiwan and the site became a CNPC oil refinery.
The site is currently being converted to accommodate a TSMC factory for the production of 2-nanometer chips.
According to the National Museum of The United States Air Force, the 1,000-pound M65 general-purpose (GP) bomb was typically used against reinforced targets such as dams and railroad bridges made of concrete or steel.
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