History of Chemical Demilitarization in Kentucky
| Decade | Milestones |
| 1940s | • Blue Grass Army Depot begins storage of chemical weapons containing mustard agent. |
| 1960s | • Blue Grass Army Depot begins storage of chemical weapons containing nerve agent. |
| 1980s | • Public Law 99-145 designates the U.S. Army responsible for the destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. |
| 1990s | • Congress establishes the ACWA program to identify and demonstrate alternatives to incineration.
• Congress ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, which directs all member nations to destroy their chemical weapons and production facilities. |
| 2000s | • Public Law 107-248 assigns ACWA responsibility for destruction of chemical weapons stored in Kentucky if an alternative technology is chosen.
• Department of Defense selects neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation as the destruction method for the Kentucky stockpile. • Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass awarded the contract to design, build, and operate the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP). • The Secretary of Defense affirms to Congress that there are no options by which the U.S. can destroy 100 percent of its chemical stockpile by the extended Chemical Weapons Convention treaty deadline of April 29, 2012. • BGCAPP Groundbreaking is held. • Public Laws 110-116 and 110-181 are enacted, mandating destruction of the chemical stockpile by April 2012 or in no case later than December 31, 2017. • Site preparation and basic facility infrastructure (perimeter fencing, lighting and underground utilities) is complete. • Vertical construction of the personnel support building, the maintenance building and the badging facility is complete. • Construction activities progress focusing on the facility's Munitions Demilitarization Building, Utility Power Centers, Fire Water Pump House, Utility Building and Supercritical Water Oxidation Building. • The Department of Defense accepts the final design for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. |
| 2010s | • BGCAPP surpasses 4 million job hours worked without a lost-time injury.
• Construction activities progress focusing on the facility's Munitions Demilitarization Building, Utility Power Centers, Fire Water Pump House, Utility Building, Supercritical Water Oxidation Processing Building and Control and Support Building. • The Department of Defense accepts the final BGCAPP design. • The systemization phase begins at BGCAPP. Construction teams turn over the first subsystems to the start-up groups for systemization testing and commissioning to begin preparing the facilities for chemical weapons destruction operations. The construction teams turn over the first building, the Fire Water Pump House, and the first system, the 138 kV Power Center, to the systemization team. • BGCAPP partners with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity to conduct an X-ray assessment of the mustard agent stockpile. The assessment shows that removal of mustard agent from projectiles would be difficult using the current BGCAPP design. The Blue Grass team evaluates the feasibility of utilizing EDT to destroy this segment of the stockpile. • BGCAPP is designated as a Voluntary Protection Program Star Status site by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. |
Read more about this topic: Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant
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