The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, safely destroyed the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile located in Colorado and Kentucky. The U.S. destroyed all the chemical weapons it possesses as a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, a multilateral arms control treaty that entered into force in 1997. PEO ACWA completed destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile in Kentucky on July 7, 2023, and in Colorado on June 22, 2023.

In Colorado, the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant workforce destroyed more than 780,000 projectiles and mortar rounds containing 2,613 U.S. tons of mustard agent. The main plant used neutralization followed by biotreatment to destroy a majority of the stockpile in Colorado. Meanwhile, explosive destruction technologies augmented operations by destroying problematic munitions. The Explosive Destruction System operated from 2015 to 2018 and the Static Detonation Chamber operated from 2022 to 2023.

In Kentucky, the Blue Grass Chemical-Agent Destruction Pilot Plant workforce destroyed more than 101,000 rockets and projectiles containing 523 U.S. tons of mustard and nerve agents. The main plant used neutralization to destroy a majority of the stockpile in Kentucky. Meanwhile, explosive destruction technology augmented operations by destroying problematic munitions. A Static Detonation Chamber destroyed all mustard agent-filled munitions from 2019 to 2021. Static Detonation Chamber units also destroyed containerized, drained and undrained rocket warheads and overpacked munitions. The SDC 1200 and the larger SDC 2000 will destroy agent-contaminated secondary waste during the plant’s closure phase.

For more information, contact the PEO ACWA Public Affairs Office at (410) 306-4024.