State regulators approved a report May 9 that sets the course for transfer of the devices that augmented the Pueblo plant’s destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile in Colorado.

“Reuse of the Static Detonation Chamber units, known as SDCs, has always been the plan,” said Keith Eyre, SDC operations manager, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP). Eyre is assisting the U.S. Army contractor disassembling the units for reuse.

Approval of the Reuse Readiness Report for Unit 1 starts the process of the transfer of the three Pueblo SDC units to the U.S. Army and eventual reuse by other Defense Department organizations. As the report for each unit is approved, it will be able to be moved off the grounds of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity-West (formerly the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot), a process that is expected to take three months for the dismantling and loading process of all three units. More than 50 semi-trailer trucks will be required for each unit to be transferred to its new home.

“This report approval was a Herculean task that resulted from the efforts of so many people and organizations,” said Walton Levi, site project manager, PCAPP. “Now that we have an approved report, we can save time and effort by using it as an example and template for the subsequent reports.”

During operations, the SDC units destroyed more than 50,000 projectiles and mortar rounds deemed unsuitable for destruction in the main plant. The last chemical munition at PCAPP was destroyed in June 2023.