NAGAMBIE is home to the Underwater Explosive Test Facility (UETF), a unique facility for testing explosives, the Department of Defense has confirmed.

Defence Science and Technology Group's Stu Cannon recently spoke about the facility at an Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) conference.

In a recording of his talk available on YouTube, Mr Cannon said the facility is an open cut, former gold mine.

Little public information regarding the UETF was available until mid–May this year, when Mr Cannon's talk was published on YouTube and the Department of Defence published an online factsheet regarding the facility.

A Defence spokesperson said the facility was commissioned in April 2021.

"The facility is a unique sovereign capability for the underwater explosive and non–explosive shock testing and qualification of maritime equipment and systems," the spokesperson said.

"The facility includes a large 50m deep test area as well as a purpose built clear water facility that can be used for testing and assurance activities to support the shock certification of maritime materials, structures and equipment.

"The number of people working at the facility fluctuates depending on the trials being conducted."

The factsheet published in May states the facility features a separate clear water area with swimming pool clarity, a high–speed underwater imaging system and a "Floating Shock Platform (up to 27 tonne test item)".

"The capability enables informed advice to be provided regarding the response of maritime platforms (both sub– and full–scale sections), structures, materials, fitted equipment and systems to a shock loading produced from an underwater explosion," reads the factsheet.

"High and ultra–high speed instrumentation is available including data acquisition systems capable of recording high speed transient events, with up to 240 million samples per second at high resolution.

"High speed surface and underwater video support is also available."

At the recent ATSE conference, Mr Cannon spoke about different uses for the facility, including commercial testing of equipment that goes aboard ships and submarines.

He said defence, security and police are also considering using the facility for diver training.