The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, or BGCAPP, will safely and efficiently destroy a stockpile of chemical weapons currently in storage at the Blue Grass Army Depot. Utilizing neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO), the plant will destroy munitions containing nerve agent. Additionally, the Static Detonation Chamber, an explosive destruction technology (EDT), will augment BGCAPP’s neutralization/SCWO technology to destroy approximately 15,000 155mm mustard projectiles in the Blue Grass stockpile, many of which have been found unsuited for processing through the main plant.
In 2003, the Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass Team was awarded the systems contract to facilitate the pilot plant through all of the project stages – design, construction, systemization, pilot testing, operations and closure. Construction of the plant was completed in October 2015 and systemization work is progressing. For updates on plant progress, view the BGCAPP Monthly Status Briefings.
Since the initial design phase, some modifications have been made to the pilot plant. In addition to adding EDT, the plant is updating processes for the munitions drain systems and making enhancements to equipment to reduce the formation of cyanide in the energetics neutralization process.
The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, known as PEO ACWA, is the Department of Defense agency responsible for managing the destruction of the Blue Grass chemical weapons stockpile and oversees the Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass contract.