HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
and Program Manager for chemical stockpile elimination.
Dean is now working on closing the facili- ties and helping workers transition, in some cases, to new employment.
Bert Durrant, who has been a chem-demil worker since 1979, spent years wear- ing the protective gear needed to safely destroy chemical agents and munitions.
“I was involved in research and develop- ment. Every day was a new experience with different hurdles, but people put their - ing that we did this in such a safe manner, with so few problems,” said Durrant, a longtime CMA Engineering Technician.
Durrant, who helped develop some of the procedures and regulations involved in safe destruction of chemical agents, said that prioritizing safety and managing costs were always key parts of the calculus.
“We had to research how to do this. When this started out, we didn’t have a lot of regulators,” he explained. Overall, work- ers attending the ceremony expressed pride in the chem-demil mission.
“I have an incredible sense of pride work- ing on this program. I stumbled into this - ing on this program ever since. I can’t imagine a program that has any more importance to the safety of our world. That really resonates with me,” said Rob Malone, an Environmental Scientist and Site Manager at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.
As a scientist, Malone explained the value of the neutralization methods used at the Aberdeen and Newport facilities. “Mus- tard and VX agents lent themselves to a simple chemical reaction that broke the
Some of the U.S. chemical weap- ons stockpile dates to the World War I era.
“The Germans used blister agent and chlorine gas in World War I,” said Carmen J. Spencer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Elimination of Chemical Weapons.
“Also, prior to World War II, the U.S. was aware that Germany was developing an offensive chemical weapons program. Our strategy was always
to compile chemical weapons as a deterrent,” he said.
Much attention was paid to chemical weapon stockpiles and production after World War II, with the emergence of
the Cold
War era. The Russians have destroyed 62.5 percent of their chemical weapons stockpile thus far, Spencer said.
“Post-World War II, the Russians got to Berlin and found a large cache of liquid nerve gas. The U.S. took some to analyze, in order to ensure that all of our protective clothing and protective masks would pro- tect U.S. Forces from those nerve agents,” Spencer explained. “Also, we knew that
in the Cold War
Russia was improving upon their chemical weapons and building a vast arsenal of both nerve and blis- ter agents. The U.S. program was basically a Cold War relic.”
—KRIS OSBORN
bonds of the chemical agent, forming simpler organic compounds,” he said. The “neutralized” or demilitarized waste materials, once free of dangerous chemi- cals, were disposed of through standard commercial procedures, he added.
Expert for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Tech- He holds a B.A. in English and political science from Kenyon College and an M.A. in comparative literature from Columbia University.
Malone, who served as the lead environ- mental scientist at the Johnston Atoll site 18 years ago, is also familiar with the more standard “reverse assembly” process of demilitarization. “We used robotics to, essentially, take apart the munitions. Energetics went into one furnace, liquid agents went into a second furnace, and then the metal bodies themselves went into a metal parts furnace,” he said.
Malone said site closure and demilitar- improved over the years. “We have contin- are technically hazardous waste treatment facilities, so there is a constant interaction with the state regulatory committee to build consensus regarding the best meth- odologies for basically handling the material we are tasked to dispose of. We learned to do it better and faster,” he said.
CONCLUSION
Army leaders involved in the effort consis- tently praise the dedication and resolve of the workforce.
were contract employees, and we could not have done it without them. This is a tremendous accomplishment by the indi- vidual workers,” Spencer said.
For more information, go to http://www.
cma.army.mil/.
ASC.ARMY.MIL
45
ACQUISITION
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