For veterans of chemical weapons work, the recent dispositioning of two custom sideloader trucks marked the end of an era at the Blue Grass plant.
“Knowing that they performed their mission of unloading and transporting all of the munitions for the main plant without any major issues is very gratifying but at the same time, it’s sad, it’s like losing your favorite trusted tool,” said Randy Bickley, maintenance engineer specialist, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, or BPBG.
After careful planning, preparation and coordination, the two sideloader trucks were removed from the Container Handling Building, where they did much of their work, Nov. 5 and 7. Workers with the company that bought the sideloaders at auction loaded the 36-ton machines onto flatbed trailers for transport to their Louisville offices.
“When they arrived, we unloaded them using two rough-terrain mobile cranes, and they were loaded and shipped out using two heavy machinery forklifts,” said Bickley, who has been at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or BGCAPP, for almost 12 years and was part of the original team that selected the devices. “Both tasks required a lot of highly trained operators and even more logistics coordination with the Blue Grass Army Depot and other departments. It has been yet another joyful completed mission.”
After three years of research and testing, the two quiet, clean, battery-powered machines with custom spreader bars arrived in 2018 and 2019. The versatile tools have a capacity of almost 34,000 pounds, arms that rotate in any direction and extend, and the ability to move backward, forward and sideways.
Workers used one of the sideloaders to lift 19,000-pound Enhanced On-site Containers, or EONCs, loaded with munitions from transport trailers and move them into the Container Handling Building. The second machine moved the EONCs to the plant’s Unpack Area to be safely opened and their contents placed into the destruction process.
“I’ve been in chemical weapons storage and demilitarization for more than 35 years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a piece of equipment like the sideloaders,” said Neil Thompson, demolition property manager, BPBG. “Their sheer size, weight and complex abilities is a testament to modern engineering and safety standards. As we move into closure and demolition, I am glad to see them finding a new purpose after life at BGCAPP.”
The last EONCs were dispositioned in July 2024.
“With the sideloaders and EONCs gone, the end of that part of operations is bittersweet, but it’s another step in the completion of our mission,” Bickley said.
“That’s it, that’s my last drive,” added Bickley as he climbed down the sideloader’s ladder from the cab and handed its manual and keys over to a representative of the new owners.
Closure involves the decontamination and decommissioning of facilities, disposition of property and equipment, and demolition of facilities not required for future U.S. Army use. The activities will take about three years, finishing with the close out of government contracts and environmental permits in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
