The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA) was responsible for destroying the declared United States chemical weapon stockpile formerly stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado – now known as the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity-West.
In 1996, the United States Congress established the ACWA program to test and demonstrate alternative technologies to baseline incineration for the destruction of chemical weapons. The ACWA program oversaw the design and construction of the two chemical weapons destruction pilot plants – the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) in Colorado and the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) in Kentucky.
As of July 7, 2023, PCAPP and BGCAPP have both concluded the destruction of their respective stockpiles of chemical weapons. PEO ACWA is overseeing both plants through their closure phases, each expected to end in Fiscal Year 2028.
History of chemical weapons in the United States
The production of chemical weapons in the United States began during World War I, after their first large-scale use against Allied troops in Belgium. The United States' chemical weapons stockpile was produced as a deterrent against the creation and use of such weapons against the U.S. Chemical weapons include blister agents that were designed to inflict chemical burns or blister the skin and nerve agents that were designed to impair the nervous system. Production ceased in 1968.
In 1985, with the rise of international dialogue concerning the effects of chemical warfare, the United States started to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. In 1997, the United States formally agreed to destroy its stockpile by ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention. The international treaty bans the use of all chemical weapons and aims to eliminate them throughout the world.
Under the management of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency – now known as the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) – chemical stockpile destruction was completed at Army installations near Anniston, Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Newport, Indiana; Aberdeen, Maryland; Umatilla, Oregon; Tooele, Utah; and on Johnston Atoll, an island in the Pacific. CMA held responsibility for the storage management of the chemical stockpiles at sites near Pueblo, Colorado, and Richmond, Kentucky, whereas PEO ACWA was responsible for stockpile destruction at these sites.
“Assembled” chemical weapons refer to weapons that contain a chemical agent in addition to fuses, explosives, propellant, shipping and firing tubes, and packaging materials. Examples include rockets, projectiles, and bombs.
History of PEO ACWA
1990s In 1996, Congress established the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program to safely test and demonstrate at least two alternative technologies to the baseline incineration process for the destruction of the nation’s stockpile of assembled chemical weapons. ACWA program leaders implemented an open participatory public process called the ACWA Dialogue in 1997 to engage stakeholders in the program’s decision-making process.
Beginning in 1999, Congress authorized ACWA to manage the development and pilot-scale testing of these new technologies. Public Law 106-79 stated that funds would not be allocated for a chemical weapons disposal facility at Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) until the Secretary of Defense certified demonstration of six incineration alternatives. ACWA successfully demonstrated three alternative technologies that year.
2000s In 2000, ACWA successfully demonstrated three additional alternative technologies. In total, four of the six demonstrated technologies were found viable for pilot testing. Via Public Law 106-398, the Department of Defense had to consider incineration and any demonstrated ACWA technologies for the disposal of the Colorado stockpile. Two years later, in 2002, ACWA was assigned responsibility for the destruction of the chemical weapons stockpiles in both Colorado and Kentucky. With community input garnered through the 1997 ACWA Dialogue process, the Department of Defense selected destruction technologies for both sites. Neutralization followed by biotreatment was selected for the Colorado stockpile, and neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation was selected for the Kentucky stockpile.
Once ACWA took on the responsibility for the chemical weapons demilitarization process in Kentucky and Colorado, the organization’s focus shifted from assessing chemical weapon disposal technologies to implementing full-scale pilot testing. In 2003, ACWA changed its name from Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment to Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives to reflect its new program goals.
In 2004, ACWA reached a significant milestone with the groundbreaking for PCAPP, which marked the start of plant construction in Colorado. In 2006, the program reached another milestone, the groundbreaking for BGCAPP, marking the start of construction in Kentucky.
In an April 2006 letter to Congress, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld affirmed there were no options by which the U.S. could destroy 100 percent of its remaining national chemical stockpile by the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty deadline of April 29, 2012. In 2007, in response to that letter, Congress enacted legislation (Public Law 104-208 and 110-181) mandating the destruction of the remaining U.S. national chemical stockpile by the Chemical Weapons Convention deadline of April 29, 2012, but in no circumstances later than December 31, 2017. The Department of Defense began working with Congress to develop an accelerated schedule to meet the 2017 date as closely as possible. In 2006, the Department of Defense accepted the final design for PCAPP.
Along with congressional changes in 2007, ACWA also experienced a command change. The U.S. Army Element, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, was formally activated by the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. The new designation as an Army “element,” meaning an Army organization assigned to a non-Army program, signified the official change from the program’s former alignment with the U.S. Army CMA. The change resulted in the ACWA program manager reporting directly to the Department of Defense (Public Law 104-208).
Two years later, in 2009, the Department of Defense provided Congress options for accelerating the ACWA program per Public Laws 110-116 and 110-181. The proposed plan sought out additional resources to: 1) aim toward the U.S. Army CMA completing stockpile under its purview (90 percent of the U.S. stockpile) by 2012 by utilizing performance incentives and risk mitigation actions; and 2) accelerate the ACWA program schedule towards completing the destruction of an additional eight percent of the U.S. stockpile at PCAPP in 2017 and the remaining two percent of the U.S. stockpile at BGCAPP in 2021. This would result in an acceleration in the destruction of three years at PCAPP and two years at BGCAPP. It was decided that on-site treatment and disposal of hydrolysate at PCAPP and BGCAPP would continue, unless unforeseen technical difficulties were to arise.
Also in 2009, Operation Swift Solution Team fulfilled its mission to safely eliminate three deteriorating steel containers that stored a mixture of GB (sarin) nerve agent and its breakdown products at BGAD. The multi-agency effort eliminated health and safety risks associated with the continued storage of the containers as well as other wastes accumulated during the years of their management. In May, the Department of Defense submitted its Semi-Annual Chemical Demilitarization Program Report to Congress in conjunction with the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2010, laying out the path forward and funding requirements necessary to accelerate the ACWA program in order to complete the destruction of the PCAPP chemical stockpile by 2017 and the BGCAPP stockpile by 2021. In October, the Department of Defense requested that the ACWA Program Manager study how to maintain continuity of demilitarization operations between U.S. Army CMA completion and ACWA start-up, consistent with ongoing efforts to accelerate destruction operations in both Colorado and Kentucky. In December, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-118) was signed into law.
2010s An environmental assessment was conducted to evaluate the environmental impacts of the proposed acceleration of the construction and operation of an explosive destruction system/explosive destruction technology (EDS/EDT) at PCAPP in 2010; the environmental assessment was later withdrawn. PCAPP entered the systemization phase, where machinery, equipment, and processes are operated and tested with water or simulants to ensure each function operates together as an integrated system. With final design approval for BGCAPP accepted, the construction and systemization phases began concurrently at the Kentucky plant. Construction teams turned over the first subsystems to the start-up groups for systemization testing and commissioned them to begin to prepare the facilities for chemical weapons destruction operations.
After a six-month program review, in 2011, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics certified the ACWA program to Congress under the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment. The Under Secretary subsequently directed ACWA to proceed with the program without any significant changes to the destruction technology.
Later that same year, BCAPP partners, along with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity, conducted an X-ray assessment of the mustard agent stockpile. This assessment showed that the removal of the mustard agent from the projectiles would be difficult using the current BGCAPP design. The Blue Grass team needed to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing EDT to destroy this specific segment of the stockpile.
In 2012, to increase the program’s visibility and obtain necessary support and resources, ACWA was redesignated Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA) and reassigned to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center. As mandated by law, the program’s direct reporting connection continued to be the Department of Defense. To meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 651, PEO ACWA, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot (PCD), completed an environmental assessment regarding the possible use of EDT in Pueblo. Following a public comment period and review of those comments, it was concluded that no significant environmental impacts would occur due to the proposed installation and operation of EDT. PCAPP leadership officially declared construction complete on December 12, 2012, and moved solely into the systemization phase of the project.
In 2013, Program Executive Officer Conrad F. Whyne announced his selection of the U.S. Army’s EDS to augment PCAPP at PCD in Colorado. The decision followed a lengthy review of several EDTs designed for the safe destruction of chemical munitions unsuited for processing by the main plant’s automated equipment. In June, BGAD and PEO ACWA completed an environmental assessment to meet the requirements of the NEPA, and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 651, to address any potential impacts of the installation and operation of EDT at the depot. An initial draft Finding of No Significant Impact was prepared and provided for a 60-day period for public comments. After those 60-days, it was concluded that no additional analysis was necessary for the proposed action under NEPA. The Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass team received approval from PEO ACWA to begin initial work on an EDT system at BGCAPP. Following an extensive competitive procurement process, PEO ACWA selected the Static Detonation Chamber (SDC).