Technicians completed processing the secondary waste containing residual amounts of nerve agent at the Blue Grass plant Sept. 11, the largest closure-related accomplishment since the start of closure in 2023.
“Reaching this milestone is a result of the expertise, ingenuity, and dedication of this workforce,” said Shannon Pendergrass, site project manager, Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or BGCAPP. “This puts us closer to beginning demolition and closer to what this mission has been about for two decades, safely destroying the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile and returning the site to the U.S. Army and the community in an environmentally sound manner.”
BGCAPP technicians processed the last of the 17,739 containerized rocket warheads, or CRWs, containing residual amounts of VX nerve agent in the Static Detonation Chamber, or SDC, 1200, Sept. 11. That milestone followed the Aug. 11 destruction of the last of 51,059 CRWs containing residual amounts of GB nerve agent in the SDC 2000.
“Our dedicated workforce overcame numerous technical challenges to safely complete the destruction of the drained warheads,” said Joe Curcio, project manager, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass. “Our attention is now turned to preparing for demolition of the facilities used to process the warheads.”
The SDC 2000 began processing CRWs in January 2023 and the SDC 1200 began in October 2023.
“The total destruction of the remaining agent-contaminated material has eliminated any risk to the community associated with chemical warfare agents,” said Craig Williams, chair, Kentucky Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission. “This final milestone ends decades of careful and diligent measures to protect the workforce, the community and the environment while achieving our obligations to our nation and our citizens.”
“This is a major milestone, not just for Madison County, but for the entire nation,” said Reagan Taylor, judge executive, Madison County. “This critical step moves us closer to the full closure of the chemical weapons mission at the Blue Grass Army Depot and reflects decades of dedication, collaboration, and commitment to safety. I want to thank all the partners, especially our local emergency management teams, for their tireless work in protecting our community throughout this historic process.”
CRWs are a byproduct of the destruction of chemical weapons that were stored at the depot since the 1960s. Most of the M55 rockets in the chemical weapons stockpile in Kentucky, each containing around 10 pounds of nerve agent GB or VX, had their chemical agent removed in the main plant via a punch-and-drain process. The drained warheads were then containerized and placed in storage at the Blue Grass Army Depot for destruction in the plant’s SDC units. The last chemical weapons were destroyed at the plant in July 2023.
The SDC units will now be decommissioned and decontaminated in preparation for demolition. Meanwhile, decontamination and environmental testing of the main plant, where chemical weapons were destroyed, is almost complete and contractors are expected to begin demolition of it and related structures next year. The BGCAPP closure phase is expected to be complete in 2027. Meanwhile, the Blue Grass Army Depot will continue its conventional weapons and other missions beyond the closure of BGCAPP.
The CRW accomplishment has been reported to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international organization that implements the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, for final certification on the destruction of all chemical weapons components.
