The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) safely completed destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile formerly stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot July 7, 2023. Most of the chemical weapons were destroyed using neutralization. However, an explosive destruction technology (EDT) was needed to destroy some of the chemical munitions that would have been difficult to process in the main plant. The EDT chosen to augment the main plant was the Static Detonation Chamber (SDC).
A 2011 X-ray assessment of the chemical weapons stockpile in Kentucky confirmed the solidification of mustard agent in a significant number of 155mm projectiles, rendering them unsuitable for automated processing in the main plant. These problematic munitions, together with some 200 mustard projectiles that had leaked in the past and were overpacked in larger, sealed containers, required a different approach for their destruction. To resolve this issue, an SDC destroyed all the approximately 15,000 mustard projectiles, as well as two 3-gallon Department of Transportation bottles containing mustard agent. The campaign was completed in September 2021.
That SDC underwent upgrades to accommodate the destruction of nerve agent, including a new off-gas treatment system, to become the SDC 1200. It began waste-destruction operations in October 2023, destroying containerized rocket warheads (CRW) containing residual amounts of VX nerve agent. Destruction of the last CRW was completed Sept. 11, 2025. The warheads were drained of chemical agent in the main plant during the operations phase and were considered agent-contaminated secondary waste.
A larger SDC, known as the SDC 2000, began operations in January 2023. During the main plant’s operations phase, it destroyed drained and undrained rocket warheads, overpacked M55 rockets and M55 rockets that were unsuitable for processing in the main plant. During the closure phase, it destroyed CRWs containing residual amounts of GB nerve agent, also considered agent-contaminated secondary waste. The last GB CRW was destroyed by this system Aug. 11, 2025.
The SDC units used thermal destruction technology to destroy the waste. The CRWs were placed in a feed box, conveyed to the top of the SDC vessel and fed into the electrically heated detonation chamber. The high heat (approximately 600 degrees Celsius or 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit) destroyed the residual chemical agent and thermally decontaminated the metal parts.
