Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives
The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives 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 in Colorado, and the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Kentucky. Today, PCAPP is in its operations phase. BGCAPP Static Detonation Chamber is operational while the main plant is in the pilot testing phase. ACWA will oversee both plants through pilot testing, operations and closure.
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 States' 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 , 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.
History of PEO ACWA
1990sIn 1996, Congress established the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment program to safely test and demonstrate at least two alternative technologies to the baseline incineration process for the destruction of the nation’s stockpile of assembled chemical weapons. ACWA program leaders implemented an open participatory public process called the ACWA Dialogue in 1997 to engage stakeholders in the program’s decision-making process.
Beginning in 1999, Congress authorized ACWA to manage the development and pilot-scale testing of these new technologies. Public Law 106-79 stated that funds would not be allocated for a chemical weapons disposal facility at Blue Grass Army Depot until the Secretary of Defense certified demonstration of six incineration alternatives. ACWA successfully demonstrated three alternative technologies that year.
2000-2009
In 2000, ACWA successfully demonstrated three additional alternative technologies. In total, four of the six demonstrated technologies were found viable for pilot testing. Via Public Law 106-398, the Department of Defense had to consider incineration and any demonstrated ACWA technologies for disposal of the Colorado stockpile. Two years later, in 2002, ACWA was assigned responsibility for the destruction of the chemical weapons stockpiles in both Colorado and Kentucky. With community input garnered through the 1997 ACWA Dialogue process, the Department of Defense selected destruction technologies for both sites. Neutralization followed by biotreatment was selected for the Colorado stockpile, and neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation was selected for the Kentucky stockpile.
Once ACWA took on the responsibility for the chemical weapons demilitarization process in Kentucky and Colorado, the organization’s focus shifted from assessing chemical weapon disposal technologies to implementing full-scale pilot testing. In 2003, ACWA changed its name from Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment to Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives to reflect its new program goals.
In 2004, ACWA reached a significant milestone with the groundbreaking for the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant which marked the start of plant construction in Colorado. In 2006, the program reached another milestone, the groundbreaking for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, marking the start of construction in Kentucky.
In an April 2006 letter to Congress, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld affirmed there were no options by which the U.S. can destroy 100 percent of its remaining national chemical stockpile by the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty deadline of April 29, 2012. In 2007, in response to that letter, Congress enacted legislation mandating the destruction of the remaining U.S. national chemical stockpile by the Chemical Weapons Convention deadline of April 29, 2012, but in no circumstances later than December 31, 2017. The Department of Defense began working with Congress to develop an accelerated schedule to meet the 2017 date as closely as possible. In 2006, The Department of Defense accepted the final design for PCAPP.
Along with congressional changes in 2007, ACWA also experienced a command change. The U.S. Army Element, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, was formally activated by the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. The new designation as an Army “element,” meaning an Army organization assigned to a non-Army program, signified the official change from the program’s former alignment with the U.S. Army CMA. The change resulted in the ACWA program manager reporting directly to the Department of Defense.
Two years later, in 2009, the Department of Defense provided Congress options for accelerating the ACWA program per Public Laws 110-116 and 110-181. The proposed plan sought out additional resources to: 1) aim toward the U.S. Army CMA completing stockpile under its purview accelerate the ACWA program schedule towards completing the destruction of an additional eight percent of the U.S. stockpile at PCAPP in 2017 and the remaining two percent of the U.S. stockpile at BGCAPP in 2021. This would result in an acceleration in destruction of three years at PCAPP and two years at BGCAPP. It was decided that on-site treatment and disposal of hydrolysate at PCAPP and BGCAPP would continue, unless unforeseen technical difficulties were to arise.
Also in 2009, Operation Swift Solution Team fulfilled its mission to safely eliminate three deteriorating steel containers that stored a mixture of GB nerve agent and its breakdown products at BGAD. The multi-agency effort eliminated health and safety risks associated with continued storage of the containers as well as other wastes accumulated during the years of their management. In May, the Department of Defense submitted its Semi-Annual Chemical Demilitarization Program Report to Congress in conjunction with the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2010, laying out the path forward and funding requirements necessary to accelerate the ACWA program in order to complete the destruction of the PCAPP chemical stockpile by 2017 and the BGCAPP stockpile by 2021. In October, the Department of Defense requested that the ACWA Program Manager study how to maintain continuity of demilitarization operations between U.S. Army CMA completion and ACWA start-up, consistent with ongoing efforts to accelerate destruction operations in both Colorado and Kentucky. In December, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 is signed into law.
2010-2019
An environmental assessment was conducted to evaluate the environmental impacts of the proposed acceleration of the construction and operation of an explosive destruction system/explosive destruction technology at PCAPP in 2010; the environmental assessment was later withdrawn. PCAPP entered the systemization phase, where machinery, equipment and processes are operated and tested with water or simulants to ensure each function together as an integrated system. With final design approval for BGCAPP accepted, the construction and systemization phases began concurrently at the Kentucky plant. Construction teams turned over the first subsystems to the start-up groups for systemization testing and commissioned to begin to prepare the facilities for chemical weapons destruction operations.
After a six-month program review, in 2011 the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics certified the ACWA program to Congress under the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment. The Under Secretary subsequently directed ACWA to proceed with the program without any significant changes to the destruction technology.
Later that same year, BCAPP partners, along with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity, conducted an X-ray assessment of the mustard agent stockpile. This assessment showed that removal of the mustard agent from the projectiles would be difficult using the current BGCAPP design. The Blue Grass team needed to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing EDT to destroy this specific segment of the stockpile.
In 2012, to increase the program’s visibility and obtain necessary support and resources, ACWA was redesignated Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives and reassigned to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center. As mandated by law, the program’s direct reporting connection continued to be the Department of Defense. To meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 651, PEO ACWA, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot, completed an environmental assessment regarding the possible use of EDT in Pueblo. Following a public comment period, and review of those comments, it was concluded that no significant environmental impacts would occur due to the proposed installation and operation of EDT. PCAPP leadership officially declared construction complete on Dec. 12, 2012 and moved solely into the systemization phase of the project.
In 2013, Program Executive Officer Conrad F. Whyne announced his selection of the U.S. Army’s EDS to augment PCAPP at PCD in Colorado. The decision followed a lengthy review of several EDTs designed for the safe destruction of chemical munitions unsuited for processing by the main plant’s automated equipment. In June, BGAD and PEO ACWA completed an environmental assessment to meet the requirements of the NEPA, and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 651, to address any potential impacts of the installation and operation of EDT at the depot. An initial draft Finding of No Significant Impact was prepared and provided for a 60-day period for public comments. After those 60-days, it was concluded that no additional analysis was necessary for the proposed action under NEPA. The Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass team received approval from PEO ACWA to begin initial work on an EDT system at BGCAPP. Following an extensive competitive procurement process, PEO ACWA selected the Static Detonation Chamber.
In 2014, construction began on the PCAPP EDS site, located at PCD. The first of two EDS units arrived on site, aligning with the completion of the specially designed environmental enclosures that housed the EDS units for added protection. Also, in 2014, the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection approved the initiation of construction activities of the EDT facility at BGCAPP.
Provisional Operations, a two-month period in which operations and maintenance staff trained with simulated munitions and agent, began at PCAPP. This extensive training was conducted on a large-scale to ensure employees were prepared for plant operations. Systemization reached 67 percent completion at the PCAPP and 25 percent completion at the BGCAPP by early 2014.
To ensure the project maintained technical expertise, in June 2014, the PEO ACWA Anniston Field Office was established to retain the staff at the former Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. An SDC at Anniston was maintained for training purposes and for future destruction of non-contaminated energetics resulting from chemical weapons destruction in both Colorado and Kentucky.
On March 18, 2015, chemical stockpile destruction in Colorado was initiated on location at PCD near PCAPP. The event marked the first step towards eliminating the final 10 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. In June, operations at the PCAPP EDS expanded with the introduction of 4.2-inch mortars into the destruction process. The first three mortars were joined by three 105mm projectiles. All were safely detonated in the EDS vessel on June 18. On July 26, the first 155mm projectiles from Pueblo’s stockpile were safely destroyed in the PCAPP EDS.
At BGCAPP, in June 2015, the SDC completed Factory Acceptance Testing at the Dynasafe workshop in Kristinehanm, Sweden. The SDC arrived at BGCAPP in August to be assembled, tested and installed. On Oct. 28, BGCAPP declared construction of the main facility substantially completed and the project fully transitioned into the systemization phase.
On Feb. 11, 2016, the PCAPP EDS successfully completed its first campaign at PCD in Colorado, destroying 560 problematic munitions. At that time, the EDS went on stand-by with plans to resume further EDS operations at a later date. PCAPP technicians began testing the Biotreatment Area using a surrogate solution, thiodiglycol. Preliminary results showed the system worked effectively. In September, PCAPP entered into the pilot testing phase, where destruction operations were tested. The main plant began chemical weapons destruction operations on Sept. 7, 2016. In October, the plant began the neutralization process.
At BGCAPP in Kentucky, sole systemization activities began, where workers tested various equipment. The SDC was placed and walls were built around it.
At PEO ACWA headquarters in Maryland, Tamika Atkins was named chief of staff and Joseph Novad was named deputy program executive officer.
On April 28, 2017, Conrad Whyne retired as program executive officer, and on June 25, 2017, Suzanne S. Milchling assumed duty as the newly assigned program executive officer.
On Feb. 15, 2018, PCAPP ordnance technicians reached a plant milestone when the last of more than 28,000 105mm projectiles went through baseline reconfiguration. By July, the BGCAPP systemization team turned over more than half of the 59 plant systems to operations.
On Sept. 10, Michael S. Abaie assumed duties as the program executive officer.
On Nov. 13, PCAPP Integrated Facility Demonstrations began. On Dec. 5, the PCAPP EDS finished its second and final campaign destroying 391 munitions.
As of April 1, 2019, PCAPP destroyed a quarter of the mustard agent stockpile at PCD. On May 3, PCAPP IFDs successfully concluded and PCAPP transitioned from the pilot testing phase to full operations. By Aug. 1, more than half of the 155mm munitions at PCD were destroyed. On Aug. 6, the components for the first of three SDC units arrived at the depot in Colorado and assembly began on Oct. 31.
Also in April 2019, officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, toured BGCAPP as part of a final oversight technical review prior to operations. On May 29, BGCAPP held the Start of Agent Operations event at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Richmond, Kentucky to recognize the start of chemical weapons stockpile destruction in Kentucky. On June 7, BGCAPP successfully destroyed the first mustard agent-filled munition in the Static Detonation Chamber marking the beginning of SDC operations in Kentucky.
2020s
On Jan. 17, 2020, BGCAPP main plant entered the operations phase with the destruction of the first 8-inch projectile containing GB nerve agent. In March, the first concrete foundation was placed for a support building for the Static Detonation Chamber 2000 facility, which will augment main plant processing.
On Feb. 26, PCAPP exceeded destruction of half of the agent stored at PCD. On May 11, BGCAPP destroyed all 8-inch projectiles containing GB nerve agent, marking the completion of the first munitions campaign for the project. On June 20, PEO ACWA reached a mission milestone with the destruction of half the remaining stockpile, a combined 1,568 U.S. tons in Colorado and Kentucky. On June 23, PCAPP finished baseline reconfiguration of the 4.2-inch mortar rounds containing mustard agent.