INTERIM DESIGN ASSESSMENT FOR THE Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant
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This study was supported by Contract No. W911NF-05-C-0036 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Defense. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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COMMITTEE TO ASSESS DESIGNS FOR PUEBLO AND BLUE GRASS CHEMICAL AGENT DESTRUCTION PILOT PLANTS
ROBERT A. BEAUDET, Chair,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
CHARLES BARTON,
Iowa Department of Public Health, Des Moines
JOAN B. BERKOWITZ,
Farkas Berkowitz and Company, Washington, D.C.
ADRIENNE T. COOPER,
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
RUTH M. DOHERTY,
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Maryland
LAWRENCE E. EISELSTEIN,
Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Menlo Park, California
HAROLD K. FORSEN,
Bechtel Corporation (retired), Kirkland, Washington
WILLARD C. GEKLER,
PLG, Inc. (retired), Los Alamitos, California
CLAIR F. GILL,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
HANK C. JENKINS-SMITH,
Texas A&M University, College Station
JOHN A. MERSON,
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
CHANDRA M. ROY,
Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Irvine, California
KENNETH A. SMITH,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
MICHAEL K. STENSTROM,
University of California at Los Angeles
THOMAS WEBLER,
Antioch New England Graduate School, Keene, New Hampshire
Staff
DONALD L. SIEBENALER, Study Director
NANCY T. SCHULTE, Study Director
HARRISON T. PANNELLA, Program Officer
CARTER W. FORD, Senior Project Assistant
JAMES C. MYSKA, Research Associate
BOARD ON ARMY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
JOHN E. MILLER, Chair,
Oracle Corporation, Reston, Virginia
GEORGE T. SINGLEY III, Vice Chair,
Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, Virginia
SETH BONDER,
The Bonder Group, Ann Arbor, Michigan
DAWN A. BONNELL,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
NORVAL L. BROOME, MITRE
Corporation (retired), Suffolk, Virginia
ROBERT L. CATTOI,
Rockwell International (retired), Dallas, Texas
DARRELL W. COLLIER,
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (retired), Leander, Texas
ALAN H. EPSTEIN,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
ROBERT R. EVERETT,
MITRE Corporation (retired), New Seabury, Massachusetts
PATRICK F. FLYNN,
Cummins Engine Company, Inc. (retired), Columbus, Indiana
WILLIAM R. GRAHAM,
National Security Research, Inc., Arlington, Virginia
HENRY J. HATCH,
Army Chief of Engineers (retired), Oakton, Virginia
EDWARD J. HAUG,
University of Iowa, Iowa City
MIRIAM E. JOHN,
California Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore
DONALD R. KEITH,
Cypress International (retired), Alexandria, Virginia
CLARENCE W. KITCHENS,
Science Applications International Corporation, Vienna, Virginia
ROGER A. KRONE,
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
JOHN W. LYONS,
U.S. Army Research Laboratory (retired), Ellicott City, Maryland
JOHN H. MOXLEY III,
Korn/Ferry International, Los Angeles, California
MALCOLM R. O’NEILL,
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland
EDWARD K. REEDY,
Georgia Tech Research Institute (retired), Atlanta, Georgia
DENNIS J. REIMER,
National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
WALTER D. SINCOSKIE,
Telcordia Technologies, Inc., Morristown, New Jersey
WILLIAM R. SWARTOUT,
Institute for Creative Technologies, Marina del Rey, California
EDWIN L. THOMAS,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
BARRY M. TROST,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
JOSEPH J. VERVIER,
ENSCO, Inc., Melbourne, Florida
Staff
BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director
WILLIAM E. CAMPBELL, Manager, Program Operations
CHRIS JONES, Financial Associate
DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator
DANIEL E.J. TALMAGE, JR., Research Associate
Preface
The Program Manager for the U.S. Army’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (formerly, Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment) program requested that the National Research Council (NRC) form a committee to review and evaluate the facility design being developed for the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) in Pueblo, Colorado. After an elaborate selection process, the Department of Defense (DOD) chose a hydrolysis (neutralization) process followed by a secondary biotreatment process to destroy the chemical agents and energetic materials in the chemical munitions at Pueblo Chemical Depot. The contract for the design for PCAPP was awarded to Bechtel National, Inc., which formed a group with subcontractors, and together they are known as the Bechtel Pueblo team.
This interim report highlights issues that the Committee to Assess Designs for Pueblo and Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants (referred to as the ACWA Design Committee) has identified on the basis of a review of the information for the initial PCAPP design made available to the committee. Although the committee first met in November 2003, the subsequent delivery of sufficiently detailed information concerning the initial design for the Pueblo facility was seriously delayed because new security regulations were instituted by the Army. The NRC is subject to Federal Advisory Committee Act and Freedom of Information Act regulations established by Congress regarding public access to the information used in developing its reports. Since the Army’s chemical stockpile is considered a possible terrorist target or source of munitions for terrorists, information about sites where these stockpiles are located is subjected to an operations security (OPSEC) clearance process to prevent the publication of information that might benefit any terrorist activity. This procedure requires that all of the design documentation, as well as related reports and briefings provided to the committee, must first be scrutinized by the appropriate Army authorities. Any sensitive material used by the committee must be exempted from public access requirements. Thus, material not cleared by OPSEC could not be used in this report. This impasse is gradually being resolved, and possible means to improve the timely availability of information for future studies by the ACWA Design Committee are being investigated.
In the meantime, the contractor has been proceeding with the facility design. Thus, while the committee has received only the initial design plans, the contractor has already completed the intermediate design. However, the committee has availed itself of all information that it could in preparing this report. The committee was briefed regularly on the design, members paid site visits to locations where the testing and construction of machinery are under way, and certain members attended the periodic design reviews given by the Bechtel Pueblo team.
The committee is indebted to both the Program Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives and the Bechtel Pueblo team for their complete openness, sincerity, and cooperation during the committee’s data-gathering sessions and resultant discussions. The committee believes that the overall process has been
effective and constructive and that it will lead to an improved plant design. Appreciation is extended to Joseph Novad and Yu-Chu Yang from the Army Program Office and to Craig Myler from the Bechtel Pueblo team, who have been primary points of contact during this study.
A study such as this always requires extensive logistics support. The committee is indebted to NRC staff for their assistance, particularly to the study director for this report, Donald L. Siebenaler, and Nancy T. Schulte, who courageously assumed responsibility for this study during Mr. Siebenaler’s leave of absence. Invaluable contributions were also made by Harrison T. Pannella, who provided suggestions for organizing the report, coordinated initial text submissions by committee members into a first draft of the report, and edited subsequent drafts. Considerable assistance was also provided by the senior project assistant Carter W. Ford and research associate James C. Myska.
Robert A. Beaudet, Chair
Committee to Assess Designs for Pueblo and Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plants
Acknowledgments
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Richard J. Ayen, Waste Management, Inc. (retired),
Judith A. Bradbury, Battelle Patuxent River,
John B. Carberry, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company,
Peter B. Lederman, Peter Lederman Associates,
Richard S. Magee, Carmagen Engineering,
James F. Mathis, Exxon Corporation (retired),
Ray McGuire, Consultant, and
Janice Phillips, Centocor, Inc.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Hyla S. Napadensky, Napadensky Energetics, Inc. (retired). Appointed by the National Research Council, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Contents
Tables and Figures
TABLES
1-1 |
Chemical Weapons Stockpile of HD- or HT-Filled Munitions at Pueblo Chemical Depot, |
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1-2 |
Physical Properties of Mustard Agents at Pueblo Chemical Depot, |
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1-3 |
Compositions of Liquid HD and Liquid HT Agent Drained from 4.2-inch Mortars at Pueblo (Excluding the Composition of Any Solids in the Munitions), |
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2-1 |
Estimated Quantity of Waste Feed to Dunnage Treatment, |
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3-1 |
Major Potential Risks and Proposed Mitigation Measures for the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant Identified in the Technical Risk Assessment, |
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3-2 |
PCAPP Risk Issues Identified for Testing or Trade Studies, |
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3-3 |
Equipment Summary for Offgas Treatment Systems at Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant, |
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C-1 |
PCAPP Design Build Plan, Appendix P, |
FIGURES
ES-1 |
PCAPP process flow diagram, |
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2-1 |
PCAPP process flow diagram, |
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2-2 |
Two-cylinder continuous steam treater configuration, |
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2-3 |
Primary chamber of the continuous steam treater, |
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2-4 |
Secondary chamber of the continuous steam treater, |
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A-1 |
A 105-mm howitzer projectile, |
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A-2 |
A 155-mm howitzer projectile, |
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A-3 |
A 4.2-inch mortar cartridge, |
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A-4 |
Boxed 105-mm projectile, |
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B-1 |
Bechtel Pueblo team division of responsibilities, |
Acronyms
ACWA
Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives
ANR
agent neutralization reactor
APB
agent processing building
ATS
agent transfer system
BGCAPP
Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant
BRS
brine recovery system
CAM
cavity access machine
CATOX
catalytic oxidation
CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDPHE
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
COD
chemical oxygen demand
CST
continuous steam treater
CSTR
continuously stirred tank reactor
DCD
Deseret Chemical Depot
DOD
Department of Defense
DPE
demilitarization protective ensemble
DSC
differential scanning calorimetry
ECR
explosion containment room
EDS
engineering design study
ENR
energetics neutralization reactor
EPA
Environmental Protection Agency
EPB
energetics processing building
ERH
energetics rotary hydrolyzer
ETS
energetics transfer system
HD
distilled mustard agent
HDC
heated discharge conveyor
HEPA
high-efficiency particulate air
HT
mustard agent containing mustard-T
HVAC
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
ICB
immobilized cell bioreactor
IPT
integrated product team
JACADS
Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System
LEL
lower explosive limit
MCRT
mean cell retention time
MPT
metal parts treater
MWS
munitions washout system
NEPA
National Environmental Policy Act
NRC
National Research Council
OPSEC
operations security
OTS
offgas treatment system
PCAPP
Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant
PCD
Pueblo Chemical Depot
PMACWA
Program Manager, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives
PMD
projectile/mortar disassembly
PPE
personal protective equipment
RCRA
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
RD&D
research, development, and demonstration
RFP
request for proposal
SRT
solids retention time
SSPP
system safety program plan
STEL
short-term exposure limit
SUPLECAM
Surveillance Program for Lethal Chemical Agents and Munitions
T
bis[2-(2-chloroethylthio)ethyl] ether
TAP
toxicological agent protective
TDS
total dissolved solids
TNT
trinitrotoluene
TOC
total organic carbon
TRA
technical risk assessment
TRRP
technical risk reduction program
VOC
volatile organic compound
WHEAT
water hydrolysis of agent and energetics treatment