REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL doc

REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel Committee on Review of the Conduct of Operations for Remediation of Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel from Burial Sites Board on Army Science and Technology Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS • 500 Fifth Street, NW • Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Contract No. W911NF-11-C-0213 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Army. 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. International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-25790-9 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-25790-5 Limited copies of this report are available from Additional copies are available from Board on Army Science and Technology The National Academies Press National Research Council 500 Fifth Street, NW 500 Fifth Street, NW, Room 940 Keck 360 Washington, DC 20001 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 334-3118 (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 Internet, http://www.nap.edu Front cover—Upper: Worker in personnel protective equipment lifting a single-round container (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo). Left: Degraded military munitions found at Spring Valley, District of Columbia (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo). Lower background: German Traktor rocket bases filled with hydrogen mustard, Huntsville (now Redstone) Arsenal, Alabama (U.S. Army photo from 1948). Back cover—Ton containers used for storage of lewisite, a blister agent and lung irritant, Huntsville (now Redstone) Arsenal, Alabama (U.S. Army photo from 1947). Copyright 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel v COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF THE CONDUCT OF OPERATIONS FOR REMEDIATION OF RECOVERED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL FROM BURIAL SITES RICHARD J. AYEN, Chair, Waste Management, Inc. (retired), Jamestown, Rhode Island DOUGLAS M. MEDVILLE, Vice Chair, MITRE (retired), Highlands Ranch, Colorado DWIGHT A. BERANEK, Michael Baker Jr., Inc. (retired), Bradenton, Florida EDWARD L. CUSSLER, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis GILBERT F. DECKER, Walt Disney Imagineering (retired), Los Gatos, California CLAIR F. GILL, Smithsonian Institution (retired), McLean, Virginia DEREK GUEST, Derek Guest Environmental and Sustainability Solutions, Pittsford, New York TODD A. KIMMELL, Argonne National Laboratory, Washington, D.C. office JOANN SLAMA LIGHTY, University of Utah, Salt Lake City JAMES P. PASTORICK, UXO Pro, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia JEAN D. REED, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia WILLIAM R. RHYNE, ABS Consulting, Inc. (retired), Kingston, Tennessee TIFFANY N. THOMAS, Tetra Tech, Inc., Paradise Valley, Arizona WILLIAM J. WALSH, Pepper Hamilton LLP, Washington, D.C. LAWRENCE J. WASHINGTON, Dow Chemical Company (retired), Paradise Valley, Arizona Staff NANCY T. SCHULTE, Study Director HARRISON T. PANNELLA, Senior Program Officer ANN LARROW, Research Assistant JOE PALMER, Senior Program/Project Assistant Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel vi BOARD ON ARMY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ALAN H. EPSTEIN, Chair, Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Connecticut DAVID M. MADDOX, Vice Chair, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia DUANE ADAMS, Independent Consultant, Carnegie Mellon University (retired), Arlington, Virginia ILESANMI ADESIDA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MARY E. BOYCE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge EDWARD C. BRADY, Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida W. PETER CHERRY, Independent Consultant, Ann Arbor, Michigan EARL H. DOWELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina JULIA D. ERDLEY, Pennsylvania State University, State College LESTER A. FOSTER, Electronic Warfare Associates, Herndon, Virginia JAMES A. FREEBERSYSER, BBN Technology, St. Louis Park, Minnesota RONALD P. FUCHS, Independent Consultant, Seattle, Washington W. HARVEY GRAY, Independent Consultant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee JOHN J. HAMMOND, Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired), Fairfax, Virginia RANDALL W. HILL, JR., University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Playa Vista JOHN W. HUTCHINSON, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts MARY JANE IRWIN, Pennsylvania State University, University Park ROBIN L. KEESEE, Independent Consultant, Fairfax, Virginia ELLIOT D. KIEFF, Channing Laboratory, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts WILLIAM L. MELVIN, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Smyrna ROBIN MURPHY, Texas A&M University, College Station SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas RICHARD R. PAUL, Independent Consultant, Bellevue, Washington JEAN D. REED, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia LEON E. SALOMON, Independent Consultant, Gulfport, Florida JONATHAN M. SMITH, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia MARK J.T. SMITH, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana MICHAEL A. STROSCIO, University of Illinois, Chicago DAVID A. TIRRELL, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena JOSEPH YAKOVAC, President, JVM LLC, Hampton, Virginia Staff BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director CHRIS JONES, Financial Manager DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel vii Preface The Committee on Review of the Conduct of Operations for Remediation of Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel from Burial Sites was appointed by the National Research Council in response to a request by Conrad F. Whyne, Direc- tor of the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA). The study dealt primarily with the activities of the Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project (NSCMP), which falls organi- zationally under the CMA and is headed by Laurence G. Gottschalk, Project Manager for Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel. Mr. Whyne, Mr. Gottschalk, and their staffs heavily supported the activities of the committee. This report is concerned with the investigation and, if required, the remediation of sites that contain buried chemi- cal materiel. About 250 such sites, located in 40 states and territories of the United States, are thought to exist. Remedia- tion efforts are currently under way in the Spring Valley area of Washington, D.C., and at the Camp Sibert site in Alabama. A substantially larger effort is anticipated at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. The NSCMP plays a major role in remediation efforts. It has project management responsibilities for the assessment and disposal of all recovered chemical warfare materiel (RCWM) and for this purpose identifies assessment and disposal costs, disperses funds for assessment and disposal, prepares project schedules and other required documents, and obtains all approvals needed for the destruction of the RCWM. The NSCMP owns several explosive destruc- tion systems (EDSs), used for destruction of RCWM, and arranges for use of commercial explosive destruction tech- nologies for RCWM when needed. One focus of the committee was investigating the tech- nologies available to the NSCMP for investigating a burial site that is thought to contain buried chemical weapons, assessing any chemical materiel recovered, and destroying the RCWM. Deficiencies in the available technologies and research and development targeted at those deficiencies are identified. The committee’s second focus was to investigate the roles and responsibilities of the numerous organizations and offices within the Department of Defense and the Depart- ment of the Army that are involved with buried chemical materiel issues. In carrying out its assigned role, the NSCMP coordinated with these agencies and offices to set priorities, obtain funding, and carry out assessment and destruction activities. It also recommended changes to the relationships between some of these organizations and offices. The committee held six meetings. The first was at the Chemical Demilitarization Training Facility at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood, Maryland. The second meet- ing, held at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C., featured a visit to the nearby Spring Valley chemical weapon remedia- tion site. The third, fourth, and sixth meetings were also held at the Keck Center, and the fifth was held at the Beckman Center in Irvine, California. A total of 38 presentations were received from the following entities: • Twenty agencies and offices within the Department of Defense; • Regulatory officials from the District of Columbia, the states of Alabama and Utah, and U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency regions 4 and 8; • The Spring Valley Community Restoration Advisory Board; • Vendors for the commercially available explosive destruction technologies; and • A member of the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The presentations are listed in Appendix B. This report was prepared under the auspices of the Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST) of the National Research Council. The committee offers its thanks to Bruce A. Braun, the Director of BAST, and to Nancy T. Schulte, the Study Director, for their very effective support in the Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel viii PREFACE conduct of this study. It also offers its thanks to the BAST staff members who capably assisted in information-gathering activities, meeting and trip arrangements, and the production of this report; they include Ann Larrow, Research Assistant, Joe Palmer, Senior Program/Project Assistant, and Harrison T. Pannella, Senior Program Officer. Richard J. Ayen, Chair Committee on Review of the Conduct of Operations for Remediation of Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel from Burial Sites Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel ix Acknowledgment of Reviewers 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 National Research Council’s (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 com- ments 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: Fred S. Celec, Institute for Defense Analyses, Martin Gray, State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Henry J. Hatch, NAE, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (retired), John R. Howell, NAE, University of Texas at Austin, Michael F. McGrath, ANSER (Analytic Services Inc.), Leonard M. Siegel, Center for Public Environmental Oversight, and Michael V. Tumulty, P.E., STV Incorporated. 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 Elisabeth M. Drake, NAE. 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. [...].. .Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel PREPUBLICATION VERSION—SUBJECT TO FUTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel Contents SUMMARY 1 1 INTRODUCTION The Nature of the Recovered CWM Problem, 12 Non-Stockpile Chemical Warfare Material in the United States, 13 Study Context, 15 Statement of Task,... Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 4 REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL sider replacing the current thermal oxidizer with the larger oxidizer Since the SDC system was started up, it has become clear that the spray dryer is not effective at preventing the formation of dioxins and furans, and the activated carbon adsorbers in the off-gas... © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 8 REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL 1 2 3 4 SINGLE ACCOUNT FOR SITE REMEDIATION (Would comingle DERP, RCWM, & O&M) INTEGRATED PROGRAM PLAN AND BUDGET (RCWM) a Required RCWM emergency response infrastructure b Research and Development, technology, procurement c Planned remediation support... Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 10 REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL REGULATORY ISSUES The history of the stockpile and non-stockpile programs demonstrates that regulatory concerns and a failure to involve the public can significantly delay implementation and increase costs Much of the regulatory experience... VERSION—SUBJECT TO FUTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 12 REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL several billion dollars.2 Although it is impossible to predict at this time the ultimate cost of completely remediating all CWM buried during the last century, the DOD should initially plan for a multi-billion-dollar... 1 Destruction of binary chemical warfare materiel; 2 Destruction of former chemical weapons production facilities; 3 Destruction of miscellaneous chemical warfare materiel covered by the CWC—for example, chemical samples, empty ton containers, and metal parts; and 4 Destruction of recovered chemical warfare materiel [chemical agent identification sets (CAIS) 4 and chemical weapons] Mission areas 1,... Destruction of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel, March 1, 2010 Review of Regulatory Programs Management Practices for U.S Army Planned RCWM Recovery and Emergency Response PREPUBLICATION VERSION—SUBJECT TO FUTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved 101 105 109 112 119 Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel Tables and Figures TABLES 1-1 Inventory of Army... Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, press release “Department of Defense approves new cost and schedule estimates for chemical weapons destruction plants.” Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., April 17, 2012 PREPUBLICATION VERSION—SUBJECT TO FUTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 6 REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL. .. Council non-stockpile chemical materiel Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project non-stockpile chemical warfare materiel open burn/open detonation outside the continental United States overarching integrated product team PREPUBLICATION VERSION—SUBJECT TO FUTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel xviii ACRONYMS... Copyright © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel 16 • • REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL Once a military facility is no longer active, the forces that push it into non-military control can become intense Local governments will want the property to become subject to property tax Developers will want parts of the property to become . reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel v COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF THE. REMEDIATION OF BURIED CHEMICAL WARFARE MATERIEL THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel. Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Remediation of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel vii Preface The Committee on Review of the Conduct of Operations for Remediation of Recovered Chemical Warfare