PCAPP Monthly Recap - March 2020 - Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)

PCAPP Monthly Recap – March 2020

Published: April 2, 2020 | Category: Monthly Recap, PCAPP News

Local project employment: 1,623. Local payroll paid to date: $1.95 billion. Quantity destroyed: 1,369.4 U.S. Tons.

Highlights

Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) amid the new coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, the plant is reducing on-site workforces to the extent possible through telework while continuing chemical destruction operations. The plant is also taking additional CDC-recommended steps to further minimize risk to the workforce and the local communities, including securing munitions in temporary storage that are unsuitable for processing, reducing wastes and controlling the inventory of munitions, containing solid wastes such as contaminated equipment for long-term storage and reducing liquid waste levels in storage tanks. This will include the shipment of hydrolysate, a caustic wastewater product of the plant’s process of chemical neutralization, to an approved off-site toxic storage and waste treatment facility.
A celebration of Pueblo’s defense of the nation and the 50% agent destruction milestone planned for April 4 at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center has been postponed due to the pandemic.
The Pueblo Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office staff are working remotely until further notice but will continue to keep the public informed via the usual online platforms.
The plant completed baseline reconfiguration of 4.2-inch mortar rounds containing “HD” mustard and began processing the remaining “HT” mustard rounds, completing nearly three-quarters of 4.2-inch mortar reconfiguration.
Static Detonation Chamber (SDC) site preparations continued in March with equipment for all three units complete and protective Sprung structures erected over each unit. Work on utilities is also underway. The three SDCs will augment the main plant by destroying 4.2-inch mortar rounds and any projectiles not suitable for the automated processing in the main plant.
The plant’s SDC team returned from the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) near Richmond, Kentucky, where they consulted with BGCAPP SDC operators to learn important lessons before PCAPP’s SDC units are completed later this year.
Higher than desired salt concentration in Water Recovery System tanks resulting in degraded system performance was addressed with the shipment of saltwater (brine), now complete, to an off-site hazardous waste processing facility.
As of March 31, 234,496 155mm projectiles have been processed in the main plant.
Baseline reconfiguration of 4.2-inch boxed mortar rounds from boxed storage to pallets ready for processing continued. As of March 31, 78,741 4.2-inch mortar rounds have been reconfigured.

Upcoming Meetings

Permitting and Biotreatment Utilization Group Meeting
April 29, 2020, at 2 p.m. MDT
District Attorney’s Conference Room
701 Court St.
Pueblo, Colorado

Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission
April 29, 2020, at 6 p.m. MDT
McHarg Park Community Center
405 Second Lane
Avondale, Colorado

New to PCAPP?

The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant is a state-of-the-art facility built to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile stored at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot, Colorado. The main plant uses neutralization followed by biotreatment to destroy the mustard agent stockpile. The safety of the workforce and neighboring communities is the project’s most important priority.