Assessment of Agent Monitoring Strategies for the Blue Grass and Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants (2012) / Chapter Skim
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2 BGCAPP and PCAPP Designs and Relevant Procedures Used at Destruction Facilities
2 BGCAPP and PCAPP Designs and Relevant Procedures Used at Destruction Facilities
Pages 11-34
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From page 11... ...
issued a number of directives adopting the use of neutralization (chemical hydrolysis) as the primary means for destroying the chemical agent in assembled chemical munitions stored at both the Pueblo Chemical Depot (PCD)
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From page 12... ...
BACKGROUND ON SAFETY PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS USED AT CHEMICAL AGENT DESTRUCTION FACILITIES The safety procedures and activities related to agent contamination at chemical demilitarization facilities are based on the airborne exposure limits (AELs) that were set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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From page 13... ...
In these cases, NRT agent vapor monitors are deployed in unventilated areas to determine if agent vapor levels rise above 1 VSL. While these vapor screening procedures have been used to safely characterize agent contamination of both solid waste materials and structural components at CMA chemical demilitarization sites for the past two decades, they are time consuming and do not directly identify the specific contaminated surface areas that may require further decontamination.
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From page 14... ...
Vapor Screening Level The concentration of a chemical agent in a headspace below which the materiel can be 1 VSL 1 × 10-4 1 × 10-5 3 × 10-3 treated as uncontaminated and workers can work with only a slung protective mask. Acute Exposure Guideline Levelsa 1-hr AEGL-1 The airborne concentration of a substance above which it is predicted that the general 2.8 × 10-3 1.7 × 10-4 6.7 × 10-2 population, including susceptible individuals, could experience discomfort, irritation, or 8-hr AEGL-1 certain asymptomatic nonsensory effects.
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From page 15... ...
However, the measurement of agent vapor levels well below their equilibrium vapor pressures may not always indicate very low material contamination levels, because the effective vapor pressure of any condensed-phase material can be dramatically reduced if the material is dissolved in bulk liquid or surface liquid layers, if it is physically or chemically adsorbed onto solid materials surfaces, and/or if it diffuses into and binds to porous materials (such as activated carbon or concrete)
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From page 16... ...
for anticipated surface contamination measurements using surface wipe samples on potentially contaminated structural surfaces (CDC, 2010)
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From page 17... ...
If accepted by the CDC and relevant state regulators, a health-based agent-contaminated surface hazard level measured in mass per unit area by a new, direct surface contamination measurement technology and suitable agent-contaminated surface calibration standards could be useful in clearing secondary waste materials during ACWA disposal operations and/or structural materials during closure. However, reliable agent-contaminated surface calibration standards may be difficult to produce.
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From page 18... ...
C An area adjacent to Category A or B areas, |
From page 19... ...
The storage igloos will be monitored for agent vapor before the pallets are removed; agent vapor levels will also be monitored in the MSM. Munition pallets will again be monitored for agent vapor before being removed from a transport vehicle after arrival at the unpack area in the enhanced reconfiguration building (ERB)
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From page 20... ...
The hydrolysate produced from the neutralization of mustard agent contains thiodiglycol, a major hydrolysis product that must be destroyed to satisfy the Chemical Weapons Convention. The hydrolysate will be transferred to and treated in immobilized cell bioreactors, where bacteria will convert the hydrolysate organic compounds, including thiodiglycol, to water, carbon dioxide, and sludge.5 5 In this context, sludge refers to precipitated solid matter composed of dead microorganisms, insoluble salts, and other low-solubility materials produced during the bioprocessing of mustard agent hydrolysate.
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From page 21... ...
Note: The numbers above the boxes are simply sequential indicators that complement the arrows and act as guides for the multifaceted destruction progression from box to box. After the agent and any residual solid heel are removed, the projectile bodies containing the burster wells are placed in other trays and moved to the munitions treatment unit (MTU)
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From page 24... ...
Consequently, the process for destroying the munitions in the BGAD inventory is more complex than the one at PCAPP. The contents of the stockpile stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot are shown in Table 2-6, and the simplified flowchart for the destruction process is shown in Figure 2-4.
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From page 25... ...
FIGURE 2-4 BGCAPP munitions process flow chart. SOURCE: Darren Dalton, BGCAPP Systems Engineer, ACWA, "BGCAPP Site Project Overview," presentation to the committee on February 22, 2011.
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Cyclone Energetics Offgas Reactor hydrolysate Supercritical Aluminum liners Water Oxidation Filtration From (SCWO) venturi System (AFS)
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From page 27... ...
FIGURE 2-6 BGCAPP site layout. SOURCE: Darren Dalton, BGCAPP Systems Engineer, ACWA, "BGCAPP Site Project Overview," presentation to the committee on February 22, 2011.
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From page 28... ...
From the holding tank, the chemical agent and rinse water are sent to an ANR, where the chemical agent will be neutralized. The hydrolysate from the ANR will then be sent for treatment to one of three supercritical water oxidation (SCWO)
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From page 29... ...
DESCRIPTION OF THE HVAC SYSTEMS USED AT BOTH FACILITIES The committee's statement of task specifically identifies activated carbon as a major secondary waste for which surface monitoring and analysis for agent contamination should be considered. This section briefly describes the uses of activated carbon at BGCAPP and PCAPP, which, in general, are similar to its use at other chemical agent disposal facilities.
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From page 30... ...
. Studies indicate that both the nerve agents, GB and VX, and the mustard agent adsorbed on carbon degrade over time at varying rates and through different catalytic pathways involving water vapor, which is also adsorbed onto the carbon (NRC, 2009b)
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From page 31... ...
BGCAPP AND PCAPP DESIGNS AND PROCEDURES 31 FIGURE 2-7 The nine activated carbon filter units for the MDB HVAC system.
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From page 32... ...
The ACS carbon is expected to become highly contaminated. Current methods used to assess agent contamination of machinery, equipment, and waste streams at U.S.
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From page 33... ...
and any other records that would indicate the potential agent contamination of the item or material.
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