» Sign Up For Breaking News Alerts» Like Us On Facebook» Follow Us On Twitter

Workers found the decomposing old weapon, possibly a hand grenade, shortly before 8:30 a.m. near Thornton Hospital, in an area that used to be part of a Marine Corps base that closed in 1964, according to university officials and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Campus police cordoned off the immediate area while explosives experts examined and removed the ordnance. The city bomb squad members did not consider the object a serious hazard, and they carried it away by hand, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said.

Authorities cleared the scene about 11:30 a.m., he said.

The device never posed any threat to patients, employees or facilities at the university or campus hospital, UCSD information officer Kim Edwards said.

"This is a common occurrence, due to the former location of Camp Matthews," she said.

A $269 million medical-research center under construction at the site is scheduled to open in late 2016, Edwards said.