A team of specialists is preparing the Blue Grass plant for the destruction of VX nerve-agent filled 155mm projectiles.

“We began the Operational Readiness Review, or ORR, process several months ago, to support the upcoming declaration of readiness, where we declare to the government the plant is ready to begin processing the new munitions,” said Pat Connolly, support services manager, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass. “The process is similar to the previous campaign but does involve some equipment and process changes.”

The ORR involves specific pre-declaration requirements that include equipment and process optimization, system demonstrations, practice on the equipment and training on the whole process, Connolly said. It will satisfy process performance objectives and criteria to prove to the government client the plant is ready to start the new campaign.

“We describe it as Plant, Paper and People,” Connolly said. “We made the changes to the equipment in the plant, documented those changes and created or modified the pertinent processes and procedures for them. Now, we are training personnel on the new system and VX monitoring.”

Once the ORR is complete, the next step is an integrated operations demonstration to function the entire process as it would during operations.