Chemical agent disposal

Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System... 

The U.S. Army is in the process of destroying the country s stockpile of aging chemical weapons, stored at eight locations in the continental United States and on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The deadline for completing the destruction of these weapons, as specified by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) international treaty, is April 29, 2007. Originally, the Army selected incineration as the preferred baseline destruction technology, and it currently operates two incineration facilities—one on Johnston Atoll and one at the Deseret Chemical Depot near Tooele, Utah. The Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) completed destruction of the stockpile on Johnston Island in late 2000, and closure of the... 

NRC. 2000b. Integrated Design of Alternative Technologies for Bulk-Only Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities. Washington, D.C. National Academy Press. 

NRC. 2001d. Assessment of Supercritical Water Oxidation Technology Development for Treatment of VX Hydrolysate at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. Letter Report of the Committee on Review and Evaluation of the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. Washington, D.C. Board on Army Science and Technology. 

U.S. Army. 1998. Fact Sheet Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Byproducts and Waste Streams. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization. 

CLOSURE AND JOHNSTON ATOLL CHEMICAL AGENT DISPOSAL SYSTEM... 

GSA General Services Administration TOCDP Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Pacility... 

JACADS Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System USARPAC U.S. Army Pacific... 

End use is an important parameter because remediating JACADS to a residential standard typically would be more difficult than remediating the site to an industrial standard. The Army has favored an industrial standard, because the decision on which standard will be used and permitted by regulatory authorities may also set an important precedent for the closures (and costs) of other chemical agent disposal facilities. 

A generic closure process for the remediation of any industrial or government facility, including chemical agent disposal facilities using incineration or other disposal technologies, would involve a planning phase and an implementation phase (see Appendix C). The committee used... 

Recommendation 2. The end state, end use, and stewardship issues pertaining to closure of any chemical agent disposal facility should be resolved early so that planning can proceed on an assured rather than an assumed basis. If possible, facility end uses should be included in the RCRA operating permit. If end use and end state cannot be defined early in the planning process, risk assessments and cost and schedule estimates for alternative end states and uses should be prepared. 

Finding 3. Closure of any chemical agent disposal facility necessitates the identification of potential exposure pathways and environmental receptors in an initial conceptual site model. Closure of JACADS has been complicated because this was not done early and the end use will not be determined until much of the closure planning has been completed. 

Recommendation 9. The Army should develop an earned value system to maintain a comprehensive multiyear cost and schedule for the construction, operation, and closure of each chemical agent disposal facility. The system should be used to control and report the effect on cost and schedule from changes such as permit modifications, proposals for engineering changes, and the phaseout of security for surety material. 

JACADS JOHNSTON ISLAND JOHNSTON ATOLL CHEMICAL AGENT DISPOSAL SYSTEM AREA DECOMMISSIONING MATRIX WORK AREA SCOPE SHEET 2 OF 6 ... 

Extract lessons learned that will benefit the closure of other chemical agent disposal facilities. 

The successful closure of JACADS will be a major accomplishment for the CSDP and will provide guidance for the closure of other chemical agent disposal facilities in the continental United States. This chapter examines a number of the technical considerations involved in planning for the closure. Issues related to the execution of a closure plan and postclosure activities are covered in Chapters 4 and 5. 

Key objectives for the closure of a chemical agent disposal facility can be found in Chapter 4 of the Guide to... 

A key element of the mission of the CSDP is to eliminate safely the aging U.S. stockpile of chemical agents and munitions. The Army has in place safety and occupational and environmental health programs at chemical agent disposal facilities that have been visited by the Stockpile Committee (NRC, 2001). The committee found these programs to be comprehensive, professional, and adequate to meet the occupational health and safety needs of the CSDP workers as well as to protect the public and the environment (NRC, 2001). 

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