The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA) is responsible for the safe and environmentally sound destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky and the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot, Colorado. In 1996, the United States Congress established the ACWA program to test and demonstrate alternative technologies to baseline incineration for the destruction of chemical weapons. The ACWA program oversaw the design and construction of the two chemical weapons destruction pilot plants - the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) in Colorado, and the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) in Kentucky. Today, PCAPP is in its pilot testing phase, and BGCAPP is in the systemization phase. ACWA will oversee both plants through pilot testing, operations and closure.
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History of chemical weapons in the United States
The production of chemical weapons in the United States began during World War I, after their first large-scale use against Allied troops in Belgium. The United State's chemical weapons stockpile was produced as a deterrent against the creation and use of such weapons against the U.S. Chemical weapons include blister agents that were designed to inflict chemical burns or blister the skin and nerve agents that were designed to impair the nervous system. Production ceased in 1968.
In 1985, with the rise of international dialogue concerning the effects of chemical warfare, the United States started to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. In 1997, the United States formally agreed to destroy its stockpile by ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention. The international treaty bans the use of all chemical weapons and aims to eliminate them throughout the world.
Under the management of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, now known as the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA), chemical stockpile destruction was completed at Army installations near Anniston, Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Newport, Indiana; Aberdeen, Maryland; Umatilla, Oregon; Tooele, Utah; and on Johnston Atoll, an island in the Pacific. CMA remains responsible for storage management of the chemical stockpiles at sites near Pueblo, Colorado and Richmond, Kentucky, whereas PEO ACWA is responsible for stockpile destruction at these sites.
"Assembled" chemical weapons refer to weapons that contain a chemical agent in addition to fuzes, explosives, propellant, shipping and firing tubes and packaging materials. Examples include rockets, projectiles and bombs.
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History of PEO ACWA
Chemical weapons destruction in Colorado
PEO ACWA is responsible for the management of PCAPP at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot, located near Pueblo, Colorado. The Pueblo Chemical Depot was originally constructed as the Pueblo Ordnance Depot in 1942 and has been responsible for safe and secure storage of 2,613 U.S. tons of mustard agent in projectiles and mortars, though PCAPP operations are reducing the amonut of agent stored at PCD. The weapons have been stored at the 23,000-acre (93 km2) depot since the 1950s. The destruction technology used is neutralization followed by biotreatment. The follow-on process, biological treatment, consists of breaking down the product of neutralization called hydrolysate by microbial digestion. Additionally, the Army's EDS is being used for the safe destruction of chemical munitions unsuited for processing by the Pueblo plant's automated equipment.
Chemical weapons destruction in Kentucky
PEO ACWA is responsible for the management of BGCAPP at the Blue Grass Army Depot located in east central Kentucky. The 14,600-acre (59 km2) installation stores and maintains conventional munitions and provides chemical defense equipment and special operations support to the Department of Defense. The Blue Grass Chemical Activity, a tenant of the depot, is responsible for the safeguarding of a portion of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, 523 tons of nerve agents GB and VX and mustard agent in rockets and projectiles. BGCAPP will also use neutralization to destroy chemical agent, but it will use supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) as a secondary process. Additionally, the SDC, an explosive destruction technology, will augment BGCAPP's neutralization/SCWO technology to destroy approximately 15,000 155mm mustard projectiles in the Blue Grass stockpile, many of which have been found unsuited for processing through the main plant. The plant is currently in its systemization phase, testing equipment and best practices.
PEO ACWA schedule
The Pueblo plant is scheduled to complete operations by mid-2020. After systemization of the Blue Grass facilities, destruction operations will begin and likely complete by 2023. After operations are complete, each plant will undergo closure activities (shut-down, dismantling, and restoration of site), which are slated to be wrapped up in Pueblo by 2022 and in Blue Grass by 2026.
Public involvement
The Blue Grass Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office in Colorado serve as the local communities' primary resource for information regarding chemical weapons destruction. The offices work closely with Army leadership and its contractors to respond to inquiries, develop and provide information materials, coordinate guest speakers for a variety of different civic groups and organizations and interface with the governor-appointed Colorado and Kentucky Chemical Demilitarization Citizens' Advisory Commissions.
References
- "About ACWA". Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives. United States Department of Defense. 2006-04-23. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
External links
- Apg.army.mil
- Bechtelparsonsbgcapp.com
- Bluegrass.army.mil
- Cdc.gov
- Csepp.ky.gov
- Kyem.ky.gov
- Pueblo County Sheriff's Office CSEPP
- FEMA CSEPP
- Cdphe.state.co.us
- Defenselink.mil
- Hhs.gov
- Fema.gov
- Dep.ky.gov
- Acq.osd.mil
- Cma.army.mil
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "https://www.peoacwa.army.mil/".
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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