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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)
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      Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)


      Mission: Destroy Chemical Weapons Stockpile

      Vision: Chemical Weapons Free by 2023

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Blue Grass Technicians Calibrate Plant Instrumentation

Published: March 22, 2017 | Category: BGCAPP News, Systemization
Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant instrument and control technicians calibrate instrumentation in the Utility Building to ensure it functions as designed.

Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant instrument and control technicians calibrate instrumentation in the Utility Building to ensure it functions as designed.

As part of the systemization phase, technicians are testing and calibrating instruments to prepare the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) for destruction operations.

“Instrumentation is essential to BGCAPP,” said Fred Barnes, mechanical engineer, BGCAPP. “It will ensure we have control over plant processes, give us assurance that our safeguards will work, and give us notification if a process starts to head toward an upset condition. To perform these functions, the instrumentation must be checked, tested and adjusted on a routine basis.”

One piece of equipment technicians are currently focusing on is the Off-Gas Treatment Module (OTM) in the Munitions Demilitarization Building. This module processes the gases created in the destruction of the chemical munitions, Barnes said. OTM instrumentation monitors the air and feeds information to the Control Room, where alerts will notify plant staff if changes need to be made. Therefore, it, and all plant instrumentation, must be accurate and reliable.

“Plant instruments were factory tested after their manufacture, but it’s not the same as being tested here, where they are in place and attached to equipment,” said Bill Gregory, instrumentation technician, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass. “We have to make sure they integrate with our equipment and report and control our processes appropriately and accurately.”

If discrepancies are observed, they are recorded and the instrumentation is adjusted or replaced, as the situation warrants, Gregory said. Multiple departments are involved in the testing process and if changes are necessary, interdepartmental experts consult on the path forward.

“It’s all about safety and the proper operation of the facility,” Gregory said. “We need to have complete confidence in our plant processes, and calibration of the instrumentation is a very large part of that.”

More BGCAPP Systemization Articles

  • Readiness Review is Next Step to VX Destruction Campaign

    Readiness Review is Next Step to VX Destruction Campaign

    Published: December 2, 2020
  • Technicians work on a munitions transfer tray during operations procedure testing for 8-inch inert projectiles at the Munitions Washout System at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in May.

    System Starts Processing 8-inch Test Projectiles

    Published: May 25, 2018
  • A multidisciplinary team participates in the Systemization Demonstration Procedure for the Energetics Neutralization System in the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant's Control Room.

    Team Completes Demonstration of Key System

    Published: January 30, 2018
  • Control Room operators run the Agent Neutralization System systemization demonstration procedure as government observers take note. The system completed demonstration ahead of schedule on Aug. 30.

    Team Demonstrates Agent Neutralization System

    Published: September 20, 2017
  • Workers install the cap on the ventilation stack for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Control and Support Building Filter Bank in 2013. Today, the CSB heating, ventilation and air conditioning system has passed its systemization demonstration procedure and will be turned over to operations.

    Air-Handling System Passes Test

    Published: September 11, 2017
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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)