Bechtel-led pilot plant starts chemical weapons destruction
A significant milestone has been achieved by the workforce at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) in Colorado in the US as they begin the initial processing of chemical weapons. This is the country’s first step in destroying its remaining chemical weapons stockpile and meeting treaty obligations. The milestone also marks the first time that the Bechtel-led plant has handled mustard agent.
“Destruction of the US chemical stockpile makes the world safer and helps rid the nation of materials that have been awaiting destruction for decades,” said Barbara Rusinko, president of Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security & Environmental business.
The plant was built and is being operated under contract to the Department of Defense’s Program Executive Office for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives.
An intermediate phase known as pilot testing will incrementally introduce more agent-filled projectiles to the plant, ensuring all personnel, facilities, and equipment are working to destroy chemical agent safely, efficiently, and as designed. Full operations will begin after the pilot testing phase. Some 2,600 tons of mustard agent are stored in munitions located in bunkers on the US Army Pueblo Chemical Depot.
“Introducing mustard agent into the facility brings us that much closer to a world without chemical weapons,” said Project Manager Rick Holmes.
Pilot testing will continue for at least 16 weeks and allow plant operators to study operations data collected during a variety of plant conditions. Robotic equipment will remove the explosive components from each projectile and then drain the liquid agent.
The agent will then be chemically neutralized in a caustic solution and the resulting wastewater transferred to the biotreatment stage, which consists of large tanks containing microbes that digest and further break down the solution. The metal from the shells will be heated to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes and later shipped off site to be recycled.
PCAPP a state-of-the-art facility built to safely and efficiently destroy the chemical weapons stockpile currently in storage at the US Army Pueblo Chemical Depot.
The Bechtel Pueblo Team, which includes Bechtel, URS, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Parsons Infrastructure and Technology, won the competition in 2002 to design, build, test, operate, and ultimately close PCAPP after destroying the stockpile.
The Pueblo plant is the first of two remaining chemical agent destruction facilities in the US to enter agent operations. A Bechtel-led team is currently conducting systems testing at Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Kentucky.