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REQUIREMENTS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION TECHNOLOGIES 77 The remaining elements of interest (fluorine, chlorine, phosphorus, and sulfur) will generally be converted to their acidic or oxidized forms, HF, HCl, P2O5, and SO3 (H2SO4 in the presence of water), and ultimately to their related salts. Soluble salts would need to be disposed of in a hazardous waste site to prevent their leaching into groundwater. It is preferable to form the relatively insoluble calcium salts, such as CaF2, CaSO4, and Ca3(PO4) 2. Unfortunately, all the alkali chlorides (which would form from Cl) are quite water soluble. WASTE STREAMS IN CHEMICAL WEAPONS DESTRUCTION As discussed in Chapter 2, chemical agents are stored as liquid in large containers or contained in weapons ready to ship to the field. Field-ready weapons contain explosive charges (bursters) that on detonation disperse agent as fine droplets. Bursters are detonated by fuzes that can usually be separated from the weapons. Land mines have bursters; their fuzes are stored with but disassembled from the mines. There are 105-ram projectiles configured both with and without bursters, fuzes, and cartridge cases containing propellant. Most 155-ram and 8- inch projectiles contain bursters but are not fuzed. In addition to fuzes and bursters, M55 rockets contain both rocket propellant and its igniter. Because the presence of explosive components would greatly complicate the contained destruction of chemical agent, the baseline technology includes a reverse assembly procedure for these weapons before the agent contained is destroyed. Explosive components are completely removed from projectiles and land mines (except when mechanical resistance to removal may require special treatment). Liquid agent is then either drained or evacuated from the container, resulting in two process streams: (1) bulk liquid that is accumulated in a batch tank until enough is available for bulk liquid processing and (2) the drained but still contaminated projectile shells, mine casings, and ton containers, referred to as metal parts. Explosive components separated in reverse assembly, whether contaminated or not, must be destroyed in a system capable of withstanding their explosion. M55 rockets were not designed to be disassembled but are contained within fiberglass tubes that make reverse assembly essentially impossible. As a result, individual rockets are fed to a rocket shear machine, which punches several vertical holes through the rocket and its encasing tube, drains the liquid agent into a storage tank, and shears the rocket into small pieces. With the current baseline technology, which has been tested at the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS), the rocket drain and shear actions occur within rooms designed to contain and isolate any explosions (Figure 4-1). The stored agent is processed in bulk, and a deactivation furnace
