| Effects of the Deletion of Chemical Agent Washout on Operations at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant
Board on Army Science and Technology; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine June, 2016
Description
The
United States manufactured significant quantities of chemical weapons
during the Cold War and the years prior. Because the chemical weapons
are aging, storage constitutes an ongoing risk to the facility
workforces and to the communities nearby. In addition, the Chemical
Weapons Convention treaty stipulates that the chemical weapons be
destroyed. The United States has destroyed approximately 90 percent of
the chemical weapons stockpile located at seven sites. As part of the effort to destroy its
remaining stockpile, the Department of Defense is building the Blue
Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) on the Blue Grass
Army Depot (BGAD), near Richmond, Kentucky. The stockpile stored at BGAD
consists of rockets and projectiles containing the nerve agents GB and
VX and the blister agent mustard. Continued storage poses a risk to the
BGAD workforce and the surrounding community because these munitions are
several decades old and are developing leaks. Due to public opposition to the use of
incineration to destroy the BGAD stockpile, Congress mandated that non-
incineration technologies be identified for use at BGCAPP. As a result,
the original BGCAPP design called for munitions to be drained of agent
and then for the munition bodies to be washed out using high-pressure
hot water. However as part of a larger package of modifications called
Engineering Change Proposal 87 (ECP-87), the munition washout step was
eliminated. Effects of the Deletion of Chemical Agent Washout on Operations at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant examines the impacts of this design change on operations at BGCAPP and makes recommendations to guide future decision making.
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-- Lenny Siegel Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight a project of the Pacific Studies Center 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 < lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org |