The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, or PEO ACWA, is responsible for the safe and environmentally compliant destruction of the remaining U.S. chemical weapons stockpile stored at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.
Learn more about the history of PEO ACWA.
Chemical Weapons Stockpile Destruction in
Colorado
The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or PCAPP, was designed to destroy 2,613 U.S. tons of the blister agent mustard stored in artillery projectiles and mortar rounds at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colorado. The pilot plant is using neutralization followed by biotreatment or an explosive destruction technology to safely destroy the munitions.
PCAPP began agent destruction operations on Sept. 7, 2016. Operations will be completed by Dec. 31, 2023.
Explosive Destruction Technology
An explosive destruction technology, or EDT, was selected to augment the Pueblo plant to destroy a number of problematic munitions that could not be easily destroyed by the main plant’s automated equipment. The Explosive Destruction System, or EDS, was used during two campaigns from March 2015 to December 2018, and eliminated 951 items resulting in 3.82 tons of mustard agent being reported as destroyed to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In 2018, the Static Detonation Chamber, or SDC, was selected to destroy problematic mustard agent-filled munitions from the stockpile in Colorado.
Chemical Weapons Stockpile Destruction in
Kentucky
The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or BGCAPP, is safely destroying 523 U.S. tons of the nerve agents VX and GB (sarin) and blister agent mustard stored in rockets and projectiles at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky. The pilot plant is using neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation or an explosive destruction technology to safely destroy the munitions.
Operations began in 2019 and will be completed by Dec. 31, 2023.
Chemical Weapons Destruction Technologies
Neutralization Followed by Supercritical Water Oxidation, known as SCOW, was selected to destroy the nerve agent stockpile at the Blue Grass plant. Extensively trained, knowledgeable, skilled workers and state-of-the-art robotics systems ensure the safe destruction of the stockpile.
United States Chemical Demilitarization Map
