Simulated munitions used to train the workforce and the Pueblo plant’s automated systems and prove the safety of certain processes at the plant are being destroyed as part of the plant’s transition to closure.

“The Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, or ACWA, mission required that inert munitions be used to test the design and systemization of equipment, and for acceptance testing and personnel training,” said Brent Dubois, quality assurance specialist, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP).

The simulated munitions are described as dummy and inert because the equipment resembles a munition but contains no energetics or chemicals. They were painted a bronze color to signify their use for training purposes. Most came to the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot from a central storage facility at Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele, Utah.

Throughout PCAPP destruction operations, some simulated munitions were destroyed in the process, while others were refurbished for repeated use. Dummy rounds that entered the Enhanced Reconfiguration Building or the Agent Processing Building after the start of agent operations or were spiked by a laboratory in support of air monitoring evaluations were disposed of along with the site stockpile. 

DuBois said all remaining simulated munitions used at PCAPP will be turned over to the Defense Logistics Agency for final disposal decisions. The first batch has been sent to a facility in Tucson, Arizona, for disposal.