National Academies Press: OpenBook

Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions (1993)

Chapter: GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE

« Previous: DESCRIPTION OF THE MUNITIONS
Suggested Citation:"GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE." National Research Council. 1993. Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2218.
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Page 49
Suggested Citation:"GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE." National Research Council. 1993. Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2218.
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Page 50
Suggested Citation:"GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE." National Research Council. 1993. Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2218.
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Page 51
Suggested Citation:"GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE." National Research Council. 1993. Alternative Technologies for the Destruction of Chemical Agents and Munitions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2218.
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Page 52

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THE U.S. CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE 49 M55 rockets were found to contain small quantities of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Munitions are often stored in configurations suitable for transport during wartime, such as in boxes or protective robes. Such packing and handling materials are referred to as dunnage. For chemical munitions, dunnage includes wood pallets (some treated with pentachlorophenol [PCP]), metal fasteners, steel drums, and polystyrene packing. Used protective suits and spent decontamination solution also require disposal. All these materials must be covered in any program for chemical weapons destruction. However, dunnage may be handled by disposal in a hazardous waste site. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE STOCKPILE The U.S. chemical weapons stockpile is distributed among Army bases at eight continental U.S. sites and at Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean (Figure 2-6 and Table 2-4). Some of these storage locations are quite remote; others, such as Aberdeen Proving Ground, Newport Army Ammunition Plant, and Lexington Blue Grass Army Depot, are close to populated areas. Chemical agents at all these sites total about 25,000 metric tons, with 40 percent stored in Utah at TEAD (Ember, 1992; Picardi et al., 1991). Quantifies at other locations range from 1.6 percent of the stockpile, at Bluegrass Army Depot, to 12 percent, at Pine Bluff Arsenal. The character of the stockpile also differs among storage sites. Aberdeen Proving Ground and Newport Army Ammunition Plant store only ton containers of HD and VX, respectively. Pueblo Army Depot maintains only mustard agents (HD) and HT) in cartridges and projectiles. The other locations store both nerve and mustard agents as well as a variety of munition types. Johnston Island has approximately 100,000 artillery projectiles filled with nerve agent that were removed ("retrograded") from West Germany in 1990. (Some weapons stored at Johnston Island will be destroyed during OVT of the baseline technology.) Table 2-5 indicates the differences among sites in the amounts of metals, explosives, propellants, and agents stored. At all sites, containers of agents and weapons containing agents must be prepared for destruction. These operations produce contaminated or hazardous waste streams that must also be dealt with in the disposal process (see Chapter 4 for further details on the requirements of disposal).

THE U.S. CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE FIGURE 2-6 Types of agent and munitions anti percentage of total agent stockpile (by weight of agent) at each storage site. Source: OTA (1992). 50

TABLE 2-4 Chemical Munitions Stored in the Continental United States Chemical munitions (Agent) APG ANAD LBAD NAAP PBA PUDA TEADa UMDA Mustard agent (H, HD, or HT) 105-mm projectile (HD) X X 155-mm projectile (H, HD) X X X X 4.2-in. mortar (HD, HT) X X X Ton container (HD) X X X Xb X X Ton container (HT) X Agent GB 105-mm projectile X X 155-mm projectile X X X 8-in. projectile X X X X M55 rocket X X X X X 500-lb bomb X 750-1b bomb X X THE U.S. CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE Weteye bomb X Ton container Xb Xb Xb X X Agent VX 155-mm projectile X X X X 8-in. projectile X X M55 rocket X X X X X M23 land mine X X X X Spray tank X X Ton container X X aSmall quantities of Lewisite and Tabun (GA) are stored in ton containers at TEAD. bSmall quantities of agent drained as part of the Drill and Transfer system assessment for the M55 rockets. APG, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; AMAD, Anniston Army Depot, Ala.; LBAD, Lexington/Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky.; NAAP, Newport Annex Army Depot, Ind.; PBA, Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.; PUDA, Pueblo Depot Activity, Colo.; TEAD, Tooele Depot Activity, Utah; and UMDA, Umatilla Depot Activity, Ore. 51

THE U.S. CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE 52 TABLE 2-5 Approximate Amounts of Metals, Energetics, and Agent Contained in the Chemical Weapons Stockpile (tons), by Site Site Ferrous Metal Aluminum Explosive Propellant Agenta Tooele 22,000 570 350 175 10,500(?) Annieton 13,700 1,020 451 757 1,800 (?) Umatilla 7,930 1,380 338 1,030 2,900 (?) Pine Bluff 2,644 1,431 180 1,060 3000 (?) Lexington 1,631 904 115 670 400 (?) Pueblo 10,910 0 124 0 2,500(?) Newport 2,455 0 0 ? 1000 (?) Aberdeen ? 0 0 0 1,300 (?) JACADS ? ? ? ? 1,700(?) TOTAL 71,270(?) 5,305(?) 1,558(?) 3,692(?) 24,800 (?) a Estimated values, based on percentages of the total stockpile at each site, multiplied by 25,000 tons. Source: Information supplied by the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization at a meeting of the Committee on Review and Evaluation of the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program, March 9-10, 1992, National Academy of Sciences.

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The U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program was established with the goal of destroying the nation's stockpile of lethal unitary chemical weapons. Since 1990 the U.S. Army has been testing a baseline incineration technology on Johnston Island in the southern Pacific Ocean. Under the planned disposal program, this baseline technology will be imported in the mid to late 1990s to continental United States disposal facilities; construction will include eight stockpile storage sites.

In early 1992 the Committee on Alternative Chemical Demilitarization Technologies was formed by the National Research Council to investigate potential alternatives to the baseline technology. This book, the result of its investigation, addresses the use of alternative destruction technologies to replace, partly or wholly, or to be used in addition to the baseline technology. The book considers principal technologies that might be applied to the disposal program, strategies that might be used to manage the stockpile, and combinations of technologies that might be employed.

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