Explosive Destruction Technology Overview
The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or BGCAPP, safely and efficiently destroyed the chemical weapons stockpile previously stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot. A majority of the chemical weapons were destroyed using neutralization. However, the use of an explosive destruction technology (EDT) was necessary to destroy a portion of the inventory of chemical munitions that presented a problem 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 Blue Grass chemical weapons stockpile confirmed the solidification of mustard agent in a significant number of 155mm mustard projectiles, rendering them unsuitable for automated processing in the main plant. These problematic munitions, together with some 200 mustard projectiles that leaked in the past and were overpacked, required a different technological approach for their destruction. To resolve this issue, an SDC was used to destroy the 15,492 mustard projectiles, as well as two 3-gallon Department of Transportation bottles containing mustard agent. This SDC, now known as the SDC 1200, destroyed drained rocket warheads, considered agent-contaminated secondary waste, from Oct. 25, 2023, to Sept. 11, 2025.
In 2019, due to worker safety concerns, a decision was made to no longer use the Energetics Neutralization System to process M55 rocket warheads from which the nerve agent had been drained. Instead, these drained, containerized warheads, as well as undrained warheads, rockets unsuitable for processing in the main plant and overpacked rockets were destroyed in a larger SDC 2000 from Jan. 27, 2023, to Aug. 11, 2025.
How the Static Detonation Chamber Works
The SDC used thermal destruction technology to process the weapons. Chemical munitions 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) deflagrated or detonated the munition, and the chemical agents and energetics were destroyed by thermal decomposition.
The same process was followed for the drained, containerized rocket warheads, considered agent-contaminated secondary waste, which were destroyed in the SDC units. Residual chemical agent was destroyed by thermal decomposition.
Gases generated from the process were treated by an off-gas system that included a thermal oxidizer, scrubbers and a carbon filter system. All waste streams generated at the SDC 1200 and SDC 2000 facilities were screened for decontamination.
Static Detonation Chamber 1200
The SDC 1200 was originally selected as the EDT to destroy the 155mm projectiles containing mustard agent, as well as two 3-gallon Department of Transportation bottles containing mustard agent. Upon completion of the mustard projectile campaign, the facility underwent upgrades to the off-gas treatment system and during closure, destroyed drained, containerized rocket warheads, which were considered agent-contaminated secondary waste. The facility is being decommissioned, decontaminated and demolished.
Static Detonation Chamber 2000
The SDC 2000 is a larger unit that destroyed drained and undrained rocket warheads, rockets unsuitable for processing in the main plant, and overpacked rockets. During closure, the unit destroyed drained, containerized rocket warheads that contained residual amounts of GB nerve agent. The facility is being decommissioned, decontaminated and demolished.