Agent destruction operations

Overview Chemical agents other than mustard were destroyed by neutralization prior to incinerating or otherwise disposing of the generated secondary waste. Mustard in all forms was destroyed by direct incineration. This was the only practical choice where the agent had aged to an intractable solid or had been thickened with polymers. 

Mustard Mustard is immediately destroyed at temperatures above 500°C to S02, HQ, C02 and water vapor. The contractor operated a commercial, transportable 7 MM Btu/hr incinerator which could readily achieve an organic destruction efficiency of 99.9999% and which was used to destroy frozen bulk mustard introduced as solid waste and to thermally treat agent-contaminated metal scrap. The incinerator incorporated a two-stage combustion process, e.g., a rotary kiln (900°C, 1.5 tonnes/hr capacity) and a down-fired secondary combustion chamber (1200°C, 2.5s residence time), backed by a venturi wet flue gas scrubber. System components were erected on a prepared concrete foundation and housed in a prefabricated building to provide shelter for the equipment and operators. Natural gas from a nearby well provided a fuel source. 

During the winter of 1991, bulk mustard was drained from preheated (20°C) 1 ton containers into heavy-walled, polyethylene-lined cardboard boxes and allowed to freeze under cool conditions ( 0°C). The boxes containing frozen mustard were then placed in sealed metal cargo containers and immediately transported to the incinerator site. The boxes were then off-loaded and processed via the rotary kiln solids feed system. All bulk mustard (3 tonnes) was destroyed in this manner as part of the incinerator test bum program (see below). 

Aged and thickened mustard (9 tonnes) contained in nonexplosive ordnance items was destroyed following approval of the test bum results. Ordnance was punctured with small explosive perforating charges under cold conditions, sealed with adsorbent (vermiculite) in cardboard boxes and incinerated. The clean ordnance items were recovered from the ash discharge system and sold to a foundry for melting into recyclable metal. 

Lewisite Lewisite was processed using a skid-mounted apparatus which could accept bulk liquid metered in from 1 ton cylinders. During October 1991, the agent was destroyed in a three-step neutralization process (1) conversion of lewisite to lewisite oxide (chlorovinyl arsine oxide) by addition of the agent to aqueous acidic hydrogen peroxide (2) removal 

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In both the baseline incineration system and the modified baseline process, energetics are removed in explosive containment rooms (ECRs) as part of the agent destruction operation in the munitions demilitarization building (MDB). A work-in-progress (WIP) buffer inventory is provided between the energetics removal step and the rest of the operation. The same type of energetics removal equipment is used in both the baseline system and the modified baseline process. 

Of the five remaining major waste streams, spent activated carbon is being stored at each facility for later disposal. Munitions bodies and other scrap metal are sent to off-site smelters after being thermally treated to a clean condition in the MPF at the four incineration-based facilities. Because on-site secondary waste processing capacity is limited, demilitarization protective ensemble suits are shipped off-site or stored until they can be treated on-site in the MPF when it has an opening in its schedule or at the end of agent destruction operations. 

Disposal Facility (TOCDF) in Tooele, Utah, which began agent destruction operations in 1996. It was followed by incineration facilities at three additional sites the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (ANCDF) in Anniston, Alabama the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF) in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) in Umatilla, Oregon. 

Direct chemical agent destruction operations as well as indirect or peripheral operations all result in secondary waste. Indirect or peripheral operations critical to chemical agent disposal facilities include laboratory operations, operations associated with protection of personnel or the environment, and operations associated with maintenance of the facility. The links between direct and indirect process operations and secondary waste streams are described next. 

There are no commercial TSDFs in Indiana to support NECDF s closure activities. To date, NECDF has been permitted to ship limited quantities of its secondary wastes to out-of-state permitted disposal facilities. However, additional quantities need to be shipped while bulk VX disposal operations are still ongoing so that the wastes from agent destruction operations do... 

Advancement of the munitions in the demil operations by conveyors to the furnaces and explosive agent destruction operations have been reviewed with possible failure modes, fire, toxic release, and deterrent actions. 

DRES Historical Activities The public raised concerns regarding potential health and environmental impacts from previous mustard and nerve agent destruction operations and waste disposal activities. There was speculation that military activities and DRES research and development programs might be responsible for certain illnesses or diseases in the district communities. 

Several inqx>rtant modifications to Project Swiftsure and the EPP resulted from reviews by the government agencies, a citizens advisory committee, and the general public. Where iqrplicable, the contract for the agent destruction operations was amended to be consistent with the EPP changes. The key modifications included ... 

Verification of the destruction of mustard in HD hydrolysates has not presented the same technical challenges as VX, but it does require the use of NMR analysis, which takes four to six hours to measure both mustard and sulfonium ions (U.S. Army, 1998b). Verification of agent destruction also constitutes a critical path item in the operational cycle of each facility. Currently, analysis of each batch of hydrolysate takes six hours, provided that reliable analytical results are obtained from the first analysis. Thus, reducing the time required to verify agent destruction in process streams would significantly improve the overall processing efficiency and schedule. 

Recommendation 3-1. The Chemical Materials Agency should develop improved analytical techniques for heterogeneous, porous, and permeable materials. Better analytical techniques could enable more exact quantification of agent contamination to meet off-site shipping criteria and help reduce waste remaining on-site at the end of munitions destruction operations. 

Finding 3-3. The availability and capacity of equipment for the concurrent treatment of secondary waste during agent disposal operations or changeovers at chemical agent destruction facilities is severely limited in comparison with the capacity available at off-site commercial treatment facilities that could process the waste. 

Spent activated carbon is generated and is accumulating at each of the five chemical agent disposal facilities. It represents one of the largest secondary waste streams currently projected to remain in storage at the end of munitions destruction operations. 

Letter Report of Review and Assessment of the Proposals for Design and Operation of Designated Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants (DCAPP-Blue Grass) (Letter Report) (2006)... 

To ensure that new facilities for the destruction of chemical agent are operated as safely as possible, the NRC was further asked to recommend how lessons learned from the... 

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