Assessment of Agent Monitoring Strategies for the Blue Grass and Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 Report Summation and Recommendations
6 Report Summation and Recommendations
Pages 113-124
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From page 113... ...
ACWA is charged with destroying the Blue Grass and Pueblo stockpiles without using the multiple incinerators and furnaces used at the five CMA demilitarization plants that dealt with assembled chemical weaponsmunitions containing both chemical agents and explosive/propulsive components. The CMA disposal facilities that processed assembled chemical weapons used an array of furnaces both to destroy drained chemical agents and to decontaminate or destroy other agent-contaminated munitions components and secondary waste materials.
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From page 114... ...
Two appendixes associated with Chapter 5 present statistical methods that can be used to develop and evaluate potential chemical agent contamination measurement strategies. The remainder of this chapter summarizes salient points from Chapters 2 to 5 in conjunction with a reiteration of the findings and recommendations presented in those earlier chapters, and it concludes with an assessment of the potential value of ambient ionization mass spectrometry for prospective ACWA chemical weapons demilitarization activities.
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From page 115... ...
The Program Executive Officer for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives should consider implementing a uniform set of waste category designations for use at both the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant and the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and lessons learned between sites. After also reviewing the major role that demilitarization protective ensemble (DPE)
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From page 116... ...
measurement strategies, ambient ionization mass spectrometry provides the following capabilities for detection and quantitation of chemical agents and their degradation products (see also Table 4-3) : Exceptional sensitivity and selectivity.
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From page 117... ...
The platform configuration most likely to satisfy the analytical needs put forward in the various scenarios in Chapter 3 for different waste streams consists of a cart-mounted or handheld mass spectrometer equipped with a modified interface to accommodate a special remote sampling wand, a surface ambient ionization source combined with a vapor ambient ionization source, and any sampling accessories. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry systems backed by an uninterrupted power supply will allow portability between different rooms or site areas without breaking vacuum.
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From page 118... ...
A liquid sampling mode that allows manual sampling of a liquid pool or drip. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry methods achieve their high level of sensitivity by utilizing highly efficient chemical ionization processes.
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From page 119... ...
Procedures developed and optimized in laboratory environments for the real-time detection of chemical agents using ambient ionization mass spectrometry should be verified in all working environments where they are likely to be deployed, using actual sample materials (e.g., activated charcoal from filter beds and worker masks, DPE suit material, and polymer-coated concrete)
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From page 120... ...
ACWA is planning to clear primary liquid waste based on measuring bulk agent chemical concentrations using other analytical techniques. Reliable quantification of either surface or bulk agent contamination requires suitable calibration standards for any analytical technique, including ambient ionization mass spectrometry.
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From page 121... ...
The Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program should reexamine existing protocols planned for compliance monitoring at PCAPP and BGCAPP and means for incorporating increased statistical rigor in the assessments to be performed. The committee briefly addresses aspects of bias, precision, and detection limits of real-time analytical instrumentation, finding that computer software programs, when appropriately validated as recommended, can play a role in providing reliable real-time ambient ionization mass spectrometry measurements.
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From page 122... ...
Instrument software for use with ambient ionization mass spectrometry should be reviewed to ensure that it meets appropriate validation and verification criteria. This software should be tested by using simulated data to test different measurement scenarios (e.g., all data below detection limits, at detection limits, mixtures, hot spots, and so on)
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From page 123... ...
If adopted, these capabilities might be very useful in supplementing the Army's traditional air and vapor headspace agent contamination measurements using current near-real-time agent monitors. A range of scenarios occurring during agent disposal operations and facility closure activities have been defined and developed by the committee to illustrate the potential utility of real-time ambient ionization mass spectrometric detection of chemical agent contamination.
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