Evaluation of the Army's Draft Assessment Criteria to Aid in the Selection of Alternative Technologies for Chemical Demilitarization (1995)

3.1

Public Law (Basic Category)

3.1.1

Significantly Safer

3.1.1.1

Is the alternative technology significantly safer than the baseline technology?

3.1.2

Equally or More Cost Effective

3.1.2.1

Is the alternative technology equally or more cost effective than the baseline process?

3.1.3

Meets the Schedule for Complete Stockpile Destruction

3.1.3.1

Does the alternative technology meet the schedule for completion of stockpile destruction?

3.2

Regulatory Legal (Basic Category)

3.2.1

International agreements (BDA and CWC)

3.2.1.1

Does this technology achieve irreversible destruction?

3.2.1.2

Does this technology enable inspectors to sample and analyze any part of an item in the storage and destruction facility?

3.2.1.3

Can the technology achieve the destruction levels specified by the treaty?

3.2.2

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

3.2.2.1

Can the operating standards of 40 CFR 264 and permit requirements of 40 CFR 270 be met?

3.2.2.2

Does this technology present unique permitting problems?

3.2.2.3

Can the siting criteria (seismic and floodplain) of 40 CFR 270.14 (b) (11) be met?

3.2.2.4

Will process residues meet the land disposal restrictions (LDR) treatment standards or is additional treatment available commercially to achieve LDR standards?

3.2.3

National Environmental Policy Act

3.2.3.1

Is the use of this technology adequately covered by the site-specific EIS?

3.2.3.2

If not, what delays would result from preparing supplemental NEPA documentation?

3.2.3.3

Will the use of this technology result in any noncompliance with laws/regulations or any breaches of existing ageements with state authorities?

3.2.3.4

Will the location and/or nature of this technology disproportionately affect minority or low-income communities?

3.2.4

Clean Air Act (air quality)

3.2.4.1

Will the emissions resulting from operation of this technology comply with air permit emission limits for criteria pollutants?

3.2.4.2

Will the emissions resulting from the operation of this facility comply with NESHAPs and state-specific hazardous air pollutant limits (if any)?

3.2.5

Clean Water Act (water quality)

3.2.5.1

Will this technology produce sufficient quantities of wastewater to warrant consideration of discharge to navigable waters as a likely disposal method?

3.2.5.2

If yes, can this technology, either alone or in combination with a secondary wastewater treatment process, achieve acceptable levels for all pollutants?

3.2.5.3

If acceptable levels cannot be achieved, are reasonable alternatives available for disposal of process wastewater?

3.2.6

State and Local Community Requirements

3.2.6.1

For technologies implemented in MD or IN, will management of regulated chemical agents meet RCRA requirements for treatment, storage, and disposal?

3.2.6.2

For technologies implemented in MD or IN, will management of treatment residues meet RCRA requirements for treatment, storage, and disposal?

3.2.6.3

For technologies implemented in IN, will monitoring data from a comparable facility be available prior to the scheduled date of RCRA permit issuance?

3.3

Environmental (Basic Category)

3.3.1

Solid waste generation

3.3.1.1

What is the total amount of solid waste generated?

3.3.1.2

What is the total amount of hazardous (that is, RCRA regulated) waste generated?

3.3.1.3

Will the solid waste be able to meet the requirements for offsite transportation and disposal?

3.3.2

HAZMAT release during transportation engineering control?

3.3.2.1

What is the total quantity of other hazardous material that must be transported?

3.3.2.2

What is the frequency of HAZMAT release due to transportation accidents?

3.3.3

HAZMAT (other than agent) release outside engineering control?

3.3.3.1

What is the classification of hazardous materials at the facility?

3.3.3.2

What is the expected frequency of release due to external events?

3.3.3.3

What is the frequency of HAZMAT handling upsets with the potential for release due to equipment failure?

3.3.3.4

What is the frequency of HAZMAT handling upsets with the potential for release due to human error?

3.3.3.5

What is the probability of HAZMAT release given that a handling upset has occurred?

3.3.3.6

What is the largest quantity of co-located HAZMAT?

3.3.4

Monitoring Requirements

3.3.4.1

How many effluent streams does the facility have?

3.3.4.2

What are the characteristics of the effluents?

3.3.4.3

Can current monitoring techniques adequately characterize the effluents (including detection of minute amounts of agent if present)?

3.3.4.4

What monitoring strategy(ies) (personal and/or general area) is indicated for CSM and non-CSM contaminants in the work sites?

3.3.4.5

How often must monitoring take place, both general area and personal?

3.3.4.6

What instrumentation, sampling media, equipment will be needed?

3.4

Worker Safety (Basic Category)

3.4.1

Agent release outside of engineering controls

3.4.1.1

What is the probability of stockpile release over the duration of the disposal program?

3.4.1.2

What is the expected rate of stockpile handling errors based on the process demands?

3.4.1.3

What is the probability of facility release due to external events over the duration of the disposal program?

3.4.1.4

What is the probability of process upsets due to equipment failure over the duration of the disposal program, which if unmitigated have the potential for agent release?

3.4.1.5

What is the probability of process upsets due to human error over the duration of the disposal program, which if unmitigated have the potential for agent release?

3.4.1.6

What is the probability of agent release outside engineering controls given that a process upset has occurred?

3.4.1.7

What evaluated operations indicated the use of local exhaust ventilation (LEV)?

3.4.1.8

What LEV is best suited to contain exposure to CSM, non-CSM?

3.4.1.9

What heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is best suited for these operations?

3.4.1.10

Do the LEVs and HVAC control exposure in accordance with federal and DA regulations and guidelines?

3.4.2

Extent of agent release

3.4.2.1

What is the largest possible release of agent?

3.4.3

Facility damage parameters

3.4.3.1

Is there a mechanism that could yield to a catastrophic failure of the facility?

3.4.3.2

What is the probability of an uncontrolled chemical reaction?

3.4.4

Ability to mitigate a process upset

3.4.4.1

What is the time available to mitigate a process upset?

3.4.4.2

Are mitigating systems effective at mitigating the process upset?

3.4.5

Worker exposure to agent

3.4.5.1

What is the frequency at which agent containing/handling equipment requires maintenance, inspection, or repair?

3.4.5.2

To what extent is manual operation adjacent to agent containing equipment required?

3.4.5.3

What is the extent of manual operation required for facility decontamination?

3.4.5.4

What is the frequency of worker exposure due to agent release?

3.4.5.5

What are the health hazards involved with the operations?

3.4.5.6

What CSM and non-CSM pose the greatest hazards?

3.4.5.7

What is the most feasible method of control?

3.4.5.8

What are the number of operations per year?

3.4.5.9

Are the operations procedures adequate?

3.4.5.10

What is the risk to worker health during the operations?

3.4.5.11

What personal protective equipment is required for non-CSM operations?

3.4.6

Worker injury due to industrial and industrial hygiene hazards

3.4.6.1

What is the expected number of injuries during construction?

3.4.6.2

What is the expected number of injuries during processing9

3.4.6.3

What are the expected number of injuries during facility decontamination?

3.4.6.4

What is the expected level of exposure to industrial hygiene hazards?

3.4.7

Long-term worker health effects

3.4.7.1

What are the potential long-term health effects for plant workers from the alternative technology?

3.5

Public Acceptance (Basic Category)

3.5.1

Community involvement (Citizens' Advisory Commission)

3.5.1.1

Does the alternative technology effectively destroy HD chemical agent (MD CAC)?

3.5.1.2

Does the alternative technology effectively destroy VX chemical agent (IN CAC)?

3.5.1.3

Can the alternative technology pilot plant be permitted in Maryland (MD CAC)?

3.5.1.4

Can the alternative technology pilot plant be permitted in Indiana (IN CAC)?

3.5.1.5

What is the anticipated success of community involvement programs aimed at improving understanding and acceptance of the technology?

3.5.2

Public perception of risk

3.5.2.1

How difficult is it to communicate the magnitude of the public risk from the technology?

3.5.2.2

What is the perceived level of public risk from the technology?

3.5.3

Public perception of environmental impact

3.5.3.1

What is the acceptability of the technology to environmental regulators and environmental interest groups?

3.5.3.2

How difficult is it to accurately define the effects of the technology on the environment?

3.5.4

Public benefit

3.5.4.1

What are the potential benefits to the local community from the process?

3.6

Public Health and Safety (Basic Category)

3.6.1

Facility containment safeguards

3.6.1.1

Is the facility designed to contain escaping materials?

3.6.2

Long-term public health effects

3.6.2.1

What are the potential long-term health effects associated with the alternative technology?

3.7

Schedule (Basic Category)

3.7.1

Design and development schedule

3.7.1.1

What is the schedule for laboratory testing?

3.7.1.2

What is the schedule for bench-scale testing?

3.7.1.3

What is the schedule for pilot-scale design and construction?

3.7.1.4

What is the schedule for pilot-scale testing and evaluation?

3.7.1.5

What is the effect on the developmental schedule imposed by regulatory requirements?

3.7.2

Facility construction schedule

3.7.2.1

What is the time required for facility construction?

3.7.2.2

What is the probability that the facility can be constructed in a timely manner?

3.7.3

Facility systemization schedule

3.7.3.1

What is the time required for facility systemization?

3.7.3.2

What is the effect of experience with this technology on the systemization schedule?

3.7.4

Facility operating schedule

3.7.4.1

What are the expected duration of operations?

3.7.4.2

What is the effect on the operations schedule that results from trial run requirements?

3.7.5

Facility closure schedule

3.7.5.1

What is the schedule for facility closure and site remediation?

3.7.6

Program's schedule impact

3.7.6.1

What is the probability that the technology will meet treaty requirements?

3.7.6.2

What is the probability that the testing will be completed so that data are available for a successful Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) in July 1996?

3.7.6.3

What is the probability that data will be provided in sufficient time to support pilot-plant design and permitting?

3.7.6.4

What is the probability that the facility can be constructed in a timely manner?

3.7.6.5

What is the probability that systemization will proceed in a timely manner?

3.7.6.6

What is the probability that the operation will proceed in a timely manner?

3.8

Cost (Basic Category)

3.8.1

Research, development and design cost

3.8.1.1

What are the expected labor costs to develop the alternative technology to a level of maturity comparable to the baseline?

3.8.1.2

What are the expected facility costs for each phase of development?

3.8.1.3

What are the expected materials costs for each phase of development?

3.8.1.4

What equipment costs are associated with each phase of development?

3.8.1.5

What costs are associated with decontaminating and decommissioning the RDT&E facility?

3.8.2

Facility construction cost

3.8.2.1

What are the costs associated with site-specific design engineering?

3.8.2.2

What is the magnitude of real estate acquisition costs?

3.8.2.3

What are the costs associated with facility construction?

3.8.2.4

What are the costs associated with providing the required support for the facility?

3.8.3

Equipment procurement and installation costs

3.8.3.1

What are the costs for procuring and installing required equipment?

3.8.4

Facility systemization costs

3.8.4.1

What are the costs required to bring the facility to an operational status?

3.8.5

Facility operations costs

3.8.5.1

What is the labor cost to operate the facility?

3.8.5.2

What is the cost of materials to operate the facility?

3.8.5.3

What is the recurring cost of maintenance?

3.8.5.4

What is the cost of transportation of hazardous and nonhazardous material offsite?

3.8.5.5

What is the cost of treatment and disposal of hazardous and nonhazardous material transported offsite?

3.8.6

Facility closure and decommissioning costs

3.8.6.1

What is the cost to disassemble, decontaminate, raze, remove, and restore the site?

3.8.7

Cost of schedule extension

3.8.7.1

What are the costs to manage the stockpile and disposal program?

3.8.7.2

What are the costs to store and maintain the stockpile?

3.8.7.3

What are the costs to maintain the required emergency response capability?

3.8.7.4

What are the costs to maintain the required facility?

3.9

Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (Basic Category)

3.9.1

Laboratory testing

3.9.1.1

What are the characteristics of the reaction products?

3.9.1.2

What are the characteristics of the reaction rate during the laboratory tests?

3.9.1.3

What is the completeness of the agent destruction during the laboratory-scale testing?

3.9.1.4

What are the thermodynamic properties of the chemical reactions?

3.9.1.5

What is the probability that the measured results will translate into expected results from tests of bench-scale physical models?

3.9.1.6

What is the probability that the measured results will translate into expected results from tests of a pilot-scale design? (Successful pilot scale-up)

3.9.2

Bench-scale testing

3.9.2.1

What are the reaction products measured in the bench-scale tests?

3.9.2.2

What is the reaction rate measured in the bench-scale tests?

3.9.2.3

What is the extent of agent destruction?

3.9.2.4

What are the mixing requirements for the test?

3.9.2.5

What are the gaseous and liquid effluents measured during the bench-scale tests?

3.9.2.6

Can the composition of the feed and product streams be monitored to the required detection limits?

3.9.2.7

Does there appear to be materials compatibility problems?

3.9.2.8

What is the probability that the demonstrated bench-scale test results will translate to performance for a pilot-scale facility?

3.9.3

Agent quality testing

3.9.3.1

What is the extent of the polymerization in HD containers?

3.9.3.2

Are impurities found in VX ton containers?

3.9.4

Materials testing (corrosion)

3.9.4.1

What are the interactive corrosion properties of components of the facility?

3.9.5

Ton container decontamination

3.9.5.1

Can ton containers be effectively decontaminated?

3.9.5.2

What are the gaseous and liquid effluents from the ton container decontamination process?

3.10

Process Design (Basic Category)

3.10.1

Equipment availability

3.10.1.1

Is commercially available equipment acceptable for constructing the required alternative technology system?

3.10.1.2

Is development required for first of a kind components?

3.10.2

Construction materials

3.10.2.1

Is there a need to create and develop new or unique construction materials?

3.10.3

Process Complexity

3.10.3.1

What are the failure rate characteristics of critical process equipment components?

3.10.3.2

Does the facility have sufficient system availability to meet the planned agent destruction schedule?

3.10.3.3

Are computer-based plant automation schemes used to control the overall demilitarization process?

3.10.3.4

Are sufficient quantities of trained operational and maintenance personnel available?

3.10.4

Scale of operations

3.10.4.1

What are the inherent characteristics of small-scale neutralization concepts that would adversely affect scale-up?

3.10.5

Feed preparation

3.10.5.1

What are the essential elements of feed preparation?

3.10.5.2

Can the process of feed preparation be affected by the presence of impurities?

3.10.5.3

Can the process accommodate variability with respect to existing chemical agents?

3.10.5.4

Does the pretreatment process prevent agent from re-forming?

3.10.6

Process flexibility

3.10.6.1

How difficult is it to turn down a progressing process?

3.10.6.2

Is the process affected by power interruption?

3.10.7

Effectiveness of chemical agent destruction

3.10.7.1

How fast and how completely does the process destroy agent?

3.10.7.2

Does the process destroy impure gelled agent?

3.10.7.3

Is the agent destruction process irreversible?

3.10.8

Process monitoring and control

3.10.8.1

Does existing proven process monitoring technology meet process control requirements?

3.10.8.2

Are all chemical reactions easily controlled?

3.10.8.3

How stringent are the process monitoring and control requirements?

3.10.9

Residue and effluent handling

3.10.9.1

Are systems currently available for handling residue and effluent?

3.10.9.2

What is the disposal method for facility decontamination solutions?

3.10.10

Treatment of metal parts

3.10.10.1

How effective is the decontamination of the ton containers?

3.10.10.2

How effective is the process for removing heels?

3.10.10.3

How effective is the process for removing gels?

3.10.11

Utility and power requirements

3.10.11.1

What are the energy requirements of the process?

3.10.11.2

What are the water requirements for the process?

3.10.11.3

What are the basic and auxiliary fuel requirements?

3.10.11.4

What are the land area requirements of the facility?