The Blue Grass neutralization team finished the systemization demonstration procedure for the Agent Neutralization System Aug. 30.

“We actually finished ahead of schedule,” said Jay Ivey, start-up engineer, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass (BPBG). “Preparation started in mid-May, and we executed our game plan every day to get to this point.”

As part of the demonstration, the team used demineralized water to act as a surrogate for GB and VX nerve agent, Ivey said. The system was heated up to different temperatures and ran for different amounts of time, depending on which nerve agent they were demonstrating.

“A field technician pulled samples of surrogate just like the Laboratory will do to confirm agent destruction during operations,” said Scott Sharp, Control Room operator, BPBG. “We also pumped the water over to the Hydrolysate Storage Area tanks to prove the entire system worked as intended.”

The demonstration completion now allows the team to start testing other plant systems in a logical progression, Sharp said.

The next step is to turn the system over to operations, which is scheduled for late September, Ivey said. During operations, the Agent Neutralization System will use hot water and caustic to neutralize chemical agent. The resulting wastewater product is called hydrolysate.