Pueblo Plant Progresses Through Closure; 2024 Year in Review

Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant workers retrieve chip samples in one of the Biotreatment Area modules as part of demolition readiness activities
Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant workers retrieve chip samples in one of the Biotreatment Area modules as part of demolition readiness activities Nov. 3.

As it moved fully into its closure phase in 2024, the Pueblo plant began the year with international accolades for eliminating the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile the year prior, and ended with extensive decommissioning, decontamination and demolition readiness activities across the site.

Early in the year, government staff and contractors at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or PCAPP, in Colorado and the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Kentucky were named 2023 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year by the independent, nongovernmental Arms Control Association, for fulfilling the U.S. commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention, ridding the world of the final declared chemical weapons stockpile.

“I am so pleased the people who accomplished this tremendous milestone for the U.S. were recognized for their efforts,” said Walton Levi, site project manager, PCAPP. “And now, with the approval of main plant and Static Detonation Chamber closure plans by state regulators in 2024, the finish line for the project has become visible and within reach.”

The move from destruction operations to closure resulted in the reduction of about 600 employees, leaving a workforce of approximately 1,000 to execute the closure activities scheduled for the calendar year. The Bechtel Pueblo Team, known as BPT, the contractors that built and operated PCAPP and are conducting its closure, provided transition services to outgoing staff who sought local employment or new roles with existing contractors. Government workers were also provided similar services through Department of Defense resources.

Safety remains the highest priority during the closure phase.

“Just like with our operations phase, we will continue to execute to a high safety standard as we finish decommissioning and move into the demolition phase,” said Todd Ailes, project manager, BPT. “As a testament to the safe work being performed in 2024, we completed more than four million hours without a lost-time injury.”

After state regulatory approval of the main plant closure plan in March, disassembly and removal of instruments and equipment began in the Enhanced Reconfiguration Building, Agent Processing Building, and Biotreatment Area, which went offline in June 2024 after supporting plant decontamination activities. In November, the Static Detonation Chamber, or SDC, complex closure plan also was approved by state regulators allowing final decontamination of the destruction chambers and off-gas treatment systems to begin.

To complement the ongoing decontamination efforts at both the main plant and the SDC complex, extensive environmental sampling and analysis began to support final disposition determinations, either demolition or reuse, for each respective area.

“We look forward to continuing the decommissioning work and eventual closure of the facility,” said Ailes. “We’ve been in the Pueblo community for a long time, and we will leave it in compliant condition that will support future opportunities for the community.”

Also during 2024, the project closed the doors on both its training facility and the outreach office in downtown Pueblo, which provided information and education about chemical weapons destruction to the community for more than 20 years. It also dispositioned all unused inert munitions designed for testing and training to the federal Defense Logistics Agency.

Throughout the year, the team hosted site visits by U.S. Army organizations to support reuse of the three SDC units, another example of the government property dispositioning process.

In September, the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot was deactivated after an 82-year history as it transitioned to a new mission and name: U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity-West, or CMA-West. More than just a name change, CMA-West represents the transition from a mission of munitions storage, security and transport to logistics and infrastructure support for PCAPP, as plant closure and demolition activities continue.

The PCAPP closure phase is expected to take three years, concluding in late 2027 with the close out of environmental permits, contracts and interagency agreements, and archiving of records.

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