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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: The safe elimination of chemical weapons at Pueblo and Blue Grass by Sept. 30, 2023

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Workers Improve Safety With Equipment Modifications

Published: January 27, 2020 | Category: PCAPP News, Safety
  • From left, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant maintenance technician Nathan G., instrumentation and controls technician Jeff M. and maintenance technician Nick S. pose for a photo with a modified splash guard for the Cavity Access Machines of the plant’s Munitions Washout System. They were part of the team that developed modifications that help contain the mustard agent in champagning 155mm projectiles.

    From left, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant maintenance technician Nathan G., instrumentation and controls technician Jeff M. and maintenance technician Nick S. pose for a photo with a modified splash guard for the Cavity Access Machines of the plant’s Munitions Washout System. They were part of the team that developed modifications that help contain the mustard agent in champagning 155mm projectiles.

  • New modifications to splash guards on the Cavity Access Machines of the Munitions Washout System at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant help contain the mustard agent in pressurized 155mm projectiles.

    New modifications to splash guards on the Cavity Access Machines of the Munitions Washout System at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant help contain the mustard agent in pressurized 155mm projectiles.

Modifications designed by the maintenance team at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant are helping to reduce the effects of pressurized rounds.

“We came together as a plant,” said Bill Simmons, assistant maintenance manager, PCAPP. “Operations and Maintenance and Engineering all went away and came up with ideas on how we can mitigate that champagning from spreading contamination.”

Two robotic Munitions Washout System lines puncture and drain 155mm projectiles of their mustard agent using Cavity Access Machines, or CAMs, then spray them with a high-pressure wash.

Simmons said it’s the latest example of ongoing improvement to equipment and processes at the plant. Splash guards were already added to PCAPP’s equipment to deal with pressurized 155mm rounds. Some lots of aging munitions, however, were found to have significantly more force than others, causing a jet of chemical agent to spray upward like popping open a champagne bottle and sometimes dislodging the cuplike splash guard. Blistering mustard agent can spew over the equipment in the room, requiring time-consuming decontamination procedures and threatening electronics.

Building on the round, rubber-cup design of the original splash guard, the new version features two added relief ports attached to tubes an inch in diameter and several feet in length to contain the agent as it sprays upward. This allows agent to simply drain back down through the CAMs as designed.

“This was an easy way to add some additional relief capacity, so when the pulse came it didn’t blow off the top,” said Troy Bodle, maintenance technical specialist, PCAPP, who was involved in the new splash guard’s development.

“Sometimes the most effective solution is something simple,” Simmons said. “He just used physics and came up with something simple, inexpensive, and that’s important because we want to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

The modifications use commercially available components, making them a cost-effective solution, and they allow the equipment to remain lightweight and simple – which, Bodle said, is essential because installation and maintenance requires workers to enter contaminated areas using full Demilitarization Protective Ensemble gear that can make technical work challenging.

“Everything that we can do to make that easier makes it safer and more cost-effective, because they can get in and do multiple things instead of just one thing,” he said. “It pretty much is just an update to something that we have already been doing.”

Related Posts

  • Agent-filled 4.2-inch mortar rounds are monitored during Static Detonation Chamber agent trial testing operations at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.

    Static Detonation Chamber Trial Testing Concludes

    Published: May 13, 2022
  • After a chemical weapon is drained of agent and rinsed with high-pressure hot water, Agent Washwater Separator tanks collect fluid before sending it to Agent Neutralization Reactors to destroy the mustard agent. The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant has two tanks, providing the plant with redundancy when neutralizing agent.

    Backup Systems Allow for Safe Repairs

    Published: March 28, 2022
  • All chemical weapons from the Colorado stockpile are sorted into four color-coded lots to reduce delays in destruction due to problematic munitions.

    Color Coding Boosts Chemical Weapon Destruction

    Published: March 23, 2022
  • A Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant ordnance technician holds the first 4.2-inch mortar round to be processed in the Static Detonation Chamber complex.

    First Agent Destroyed in Static Detonation Chamber

    Published: February 22, 2022
  • Static Detonation Chamber ordnance technicians Rachelle S. and Mike W. remove a 57mm conventional ammunition round from its fiber tube during SDC non-agent Trial Burn Testing.

    Conventional Explosives Demonstrate Static Detonation Chamber Capability

    Published: February 15, 2022
  • Munitions transporters unload inert 4.2-inch mortar rounds from the back of a Modified Ammunition Vehicle during Integrated Operations Demonstrations. (Portions of this photograph have been blurred in accordance with Department of Defense guidelines)

    Pueblo Static Detonation Chamber Team Demonstrates Operations

    Published: February 2, 2022
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Other Recent PCAPP News

  • Static Detonation Chamber Trial Testing Concludes

    Static Detonation Chamber Trial Testing Concludes

    May 13, 2022
  • Colorado Commission Welcomes New Member

    Colorado Commission Welcomes New Member

    May 4, 2022
  • Backup Systems Allow for Safe Repairs

    Backup Systems Allow for Safe Repairs

    March 28, 2022
  • Color Coding Boosts Chemical Weapon Destruction

    Color Coding Boosts Chemical Weapon Destruction

    March 23, 2022
  • Plant Closely Monitors Permit Requirements

    Plant Closely Monitors Permit Requirements

    February 24, 2022

PCAPP Safety Videos

  • PCAPP Safety: Written in the Stars

    PCAPP Safety: Written in the Stars

    June 8, 2015
  • Pueblo Plant Operational Readiness Review

    Pueblo Plant Operational Readiness Review

    February 25, 2014
  • Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Hazard School Board

    Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant Hazard School Board

    August 16, 2013
  • PCAPP and the Community Share in National Safety Award

    PCAPP and the Community Share in National Safety Award

    March 31, 2009

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