Workers at the Pueblo plant’s Static Detonation Chamber complex achieved the highest daily destruction total in its processing history May 18 as the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant approaches the complete elimination of the chemical weapons stockpile in Colorado. 

“Our SDC team is stepping up to the plate and hitting it out of the park,” said Walton Levi, site project manager, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. “Their performance seems to improve the nearer we get to our demilitarization goal.”

On May 18, the SDC complex set a single-day destruction record of 308 4.2-inch mortar rounds. This surpassed the previous record of 263 rounds destroyed on March 30, when the complex operated at just 75% capacity. The SDC complex has been operating at 100% capacity since May 17, following the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment permit approval. Just over 10,000 munitions are left to be destroyed from the original stockpile of more than 780,000.  

The final campaign for the SDC complex will be the destruction of more than 400 reject and leaker overpacks. On Friday, May 19, CDPHE approved a Class 2 permit modification to process overpacked munitions deemed unsuitable for main plant processing. The campaign includes approximately 420 rejects and leakers accumulated over the three munition campaigns – 105mm and 155mm projectiles and 4.2-inch mortar rounds.

“This is the final approval we needed to finish destruction operations,” said Kim Jackson, plant manager, PCAPP. “If everything keeps going as well as it’s been, we are poised to finish operations ahead of schedule.”

The plant is required by the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty to eliminate the chemical weapons stored at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot by Sept. 30, 2023.