Residual agents

Use a sponge or cloth with liquid soap and copious amounts of water to wash the skin surface and hair at least three times. Do not delay decontamination to find warm or hot water if it is not readily available. Avoid rough scrubbing as this could abrade the skin and increase percutaneous absorption of residual agent. Rinse with copious amounts of water. If there is a potential that the eyes have been exposed to nerve agents, irrigate with water or 0.9% saline solution for a minimum of 15 minutes. 

Carbon filters. For the combined effluent from the NOx reformers of the agent SILVER II system and the MPT, three drums of activated carbon, in series, are used to remove any residual agent and PCB vapor. Each of the drums in the filter contains 150 pounds of activated carbon. These filters are not used for the combined gaseous effluent from the energetics SILVER II system and the DTS. 

The rinse water, steam/condensate, and residual agent bypass the AQS and go to the agent collection system. After the agent is removed from the warhead and the warhead has been steamed out, the rocket is rotated 90 degrees to minimize agent leakage from the punch holes. 

Recommendation 3a. For better monitoring of liquid-phase process streams, the Army should actively pursue the development of more accurate and faster liquid-phase analytical techniques for detecting residual agent, as well as agent degradation products of concern. 

Recommendation 3c. The Army should develop and deploy advanced technologies for rapidly and accurately measuring residual agent and agent degradation products of concern associated with solid waste, particularly on solid waste surfaces and spent activated-carbon stocks encountered during closure operations. 

Finding 4-4. The research on analysis methodologies for determining the level of residual agent in GB hydrolysate from Technical Risk Reduction Program activity 2a, Phase II, provides assurance that the level of residual GB in the hydrolysate can be measured accurately. 

Metal parts such as the projectile casings are treated by being heated in the munitions treatment unit (MTU) to a set temperature (at least lOOOT) for a specific duration (at least 15 minutes) to decompose any residual agent and energetics. 

Finding 6-2. The amount of residual agent in the organic layer of VX hydrolysate from caustic hydrolysis is not known and is a cause of anxiety among certain members of the public even though the organic layer accounts for a very minor portion of the total liquid. 

Recommendation 6-1. The PMACWA should rerun bench-scale hydrolysis reactions for VX and measure residual agent and agent degradation products in the organic layer, using techniques having detection limits comparable to the limits achieved for analyses of the aqueous layer conducted during TRRP activity 11. 

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