Introduction - Occupational Health and Workplace Monitoring at Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities - page 3

sites by agent and munition or containment system
prior to the start of agent destruction operations at the
Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF)
(NRC, 1997a).

both the United States, which was actively involved in
negotiating the CWC agreement, and Russia, the
world's largest holder of chemical agents and muni-
tions, have also ratified it.
The CWC prohibits the development, production,
acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer, or use of
chemical weapons. Article IV requires that signatories
destroy chemical weapons and any special facilities for
their manufacture within 10 years (by April 29, 2007).
Destruction of chemical weapons is defined as “a pro-
cess by which chemicals are converted in an essentially
irreversible way to a form unsuitable for production of
chemical weapons, and which, in an irreversible man-
ner, renders munitions and other devices unusable as
such” (Smithson, 1993). The method of destruction is
determined by each country, but the manner of destruc-
tion must ensure public safety and protection of the
environment.

CALL FOR DISPOSAL

Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program

Because of the aging of stockpiled chemical weap-
ons, the continuing costs of storage, and the potential
for accidental release, the United States has strong in-
centives to dispose of these weapons. In 1985, Congress
enacted Public Law 99-145 to initiate the process of
eliminating the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile with
an expedited program to dispose of M55 rockets. These
munitions are especially worrisome because they con-
tain agent, explosives, and propellants in an integrated
configuration and because the stabilizer components of
the propellants degrade with age—thus increasing the
potential for autoignition. In 1992, Congress enacted
Public Law 104-484, which directed the Army to dis-
pose of the entire unitary 2 chemical agent and muni-
tions stockpile by December 31, 2004. Congress also
directed that the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
(CSDP) be implemented in a manner that ensures maxi-
mum protection of workers, the public, and the envi-
ronment. In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC) (see below) was ratified by Congress, setting a
disposal deadline of April 29, 2007.

DISPOSAL TECHNOLOGY

In the early 1980s, the Army investigated a number
of strategies for the disposal of chemical weapons.
Among these were chemical destruction (“neutraliza-
tion”), ocean disposal (now banned by federal law),
stockpile consolidation with subsequent destruction,
and disassembly followed by incineration of the vari-
ous components. The Army selected incineration as the
preferred technology for stockpile disposal. The Na-
tional Research Council (NRC) Committee on Demili-
tarizing Chemical Munitions and Agents was formed
in August 1983 to review the status of the stockpile and
to assess available disposal technologies. In that
committee's final report in 1984, incineration was en-
dorsed as an adequate technology for the safe disposal
of chemical warfare agents and munitions (NRC,
1984).
Pursuant to the enactment of Public Law 99-145, the
Army began to develop the components of a baseline
incineration system at its research and development
facility, the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal Sys-
tem (CAMDS), located at Deseret Chemical Depot
(DCD), formerly a part of Tooele Army Depot, Utah.
In 1987, the NRC Committee on the Review and
Evaluation of the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal
Program (Stockpile Committee) was formed to advise
the CSDP. Construction and systemization (operational
testing) of the first fully integrated baseline incinera-
tion system, the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Dis-
posal System (JACADS), was completed in June 1990

Chemical Weapons Convention

The CSDP has evolved in parallel with worldwide
efforts to control chemical agent precursors and elimi-
nate chemical agents and munitions. Over the course of
several decades, a broad, complex agreement known as
the CWC was negotiated. Since 1993, the CWC has
been signed by 174 countries and ratified by more than
140. The convention went into effect on April 29, 1997,
six months after 65 countries had ratified it. Since then,

2 The term unitary refers to a single chemical loaded in munitions
or stored as a lethal material. Binary munitions have two relatively
safe chemicals loaded into separate compartments; the chemicals
are mixed to form a lethal agent only after the munition is fired or
released. The components of binary munitions are stockpiled sepa-
rately, in separate states, and are not included in the present Chemi-
cal Stockpile Disposal Program. However, under the Chemical
Weapons Convention of 1997, they are included in the munitions
that will be destroyed.