ARMY AL&T
Safety and Processes As CMA reaches these and other milestones, safety remains the agency’s top priority. This is evidenced by the following fi ve sites earning the Voluntary Protection Program Star status—the highest safety recognition issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration:
• Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (ANCDF), AL.
• Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF), AR.
• Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF), UT.
• Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF), OR.
• Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (NECDF), IN.
CMA’s strict safety culture aligns with the goal to protect the workforce, the public, and the environment in storing and destroying the Nation’s chemical weapons stockpiles. The original stock- piles consisted of various munitions to include mortars, projectiles, landmines, rockets, bombs, ton containers (TCs), and spray tanks fi lled with chemical agent. The types of chemical agents in the munitions ranged from mus- tard blister agent to two nerve agents: sarin—also known as GB—and VX.
In 2007, CMA marked the end of its GB destruction mission and, the following year, all of the VX in CMA’s destruction mission was safely eliminated. In 2008, the last M55 rocket in CMA’s destruction mission was destroyed, reducing the cumulative storage risk to the public by 94 percent. Rockets represented the greatest risk in storage—more than any
other munitions in the U.S. stockpile—because they were a complete weapon system containing high explosives, a propellant motor, and an agent-fi lled warhead that work together to ignite, propel the rocket, and release the agent. Each rocket contained approximately 10 pounds of agent.
“By destroying the last M55 rocket, CMA continues to address the safety of those living nearest our stockpiles,” said CMA Director Conrad Whyne. “We have reduced the chemical storage risk for the communities around our sites, as well as the risk to our workers who are charged with destroying some of the most dangerous weapons from our past.”
Shown here is a CMA chemical weapons disposal facility at dusk. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of CMA.)
CMA uses two processes to destroy the chemical munitions. High tem- perature incineration is currently used in ANCDF, PBCDF, TOCDF, and UMCDF and was the method used at JACADS. Neutralization was used at the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, MD, which closed in 2007, as well as at the NECDF, which eliminated its stockpile in August 2008 and is currently in closure operations.
Neutralization technology at the NECDF faced challenges when ship- ping 1,630,877 gallons of hydrolysate (basically caustic wastewater) to a waste treatment plant in Texas for disposal. Although state and community offi cials and regulators along the transportation
CMA’s strict safety culture aligns with the goal to protect the workforce, the public, and the environment in storing and destroying the Nation’s chemical weapons stockpiles.
route and at the disposal site supported the decision to ship the hydrolysate, activist groups tried to obtain a restrain- ing order preventing shipment. CMA voluntarily suspended shipments until a resolution to the issue was obtained. The court ruled in favor of the Army, and shipments were continued without an accident or incident. In September 2008, hydrolysate destruction was completed.
Emphasizing the international impor- tance of the NECDF’s accomplishment, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Elimination of Chemical Weapons Carmen J. Spencer said to the NECDF workforce, “The example of the depot and NECDF in completing your mis- sions is truly a model for the world to follow. As we share our destruction technology with the other signatory nations of the world, we will also be sharing the example of your work here.”
CMA’s Project Areas and Stakeholders
CMA’s stockpile destruction mission falls under the Chemical Stockpile Elimination Project. However, not all chemical materiel is included in the
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