A CBARR News Special Edition CBARR Capabilities and Project Highlights Page 16 Legacy of CBARR Page 3 Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited
On The Cover: Cleaning up testing ranges at military installations, including APG, became a new mission of the Army after World War II. The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News is an authorized publication for members of the DOD. Contents of the CBARR News are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government or the Department of the Army. Editorial content of this publication is the responsibility of the ECBC Directorate of Program Integration. References to commercial products or entities in this publication, including inserts and hyperlinks, does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Army of the products or services offered. Director s Note Reflections on 100 Years I still remember my first day of work at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, October 20, 1975. I remember walking through the old chemical pilot plant building, demolished long ago, and I can recall the journeymen workers who labored so intensely in the chemical labs and plants. The hard work and humility those men demonstrated is entwined in the fabric of CBARR today. I m grateful for the opportunity to lead a workforce of more than 170 hard-working men and women who travel the globe safely performing labor-intensive chemical operations that help make our world safer. ECBC has undergone several name changes as our mission has evolved over the past 100 years. Certainly in the 40-plus years that I have been a part of this fine organization I have experienced first-hand the impact of change. I ve witnessed the transition from the development of offensive programs during the Cold War to the destruction of chemical munition stockpiles during the demilitarization movement. I m also proud to have witnessed our responses to environmental challenges that have set the standards for safety and environmental stewardship today. As our mission has changed, so has the way we do business. Prior to the early 1990s, CBARR existed as a team that supported other ECBC efforts. That changed, though, when ECBC s teams were organized into business units that were defined by mission areas. Under the business unit concept, CBARR s entrepreneurial spirit was unleashed. As a business unit, we were able to generate capital investment dollars, invest in the organization s capabilities, and conduct work for other agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and, more recently, the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives. As a result, our business unit brought in $62 million for the Center last year. But we re not resting on the laurels of our past. Not only have we maintained or expanded our current business relationships, we re building on the future by creating new opportunities in support of the Center, providing training to first and secondary responders; consulting with other government agencies on chemical and biological risk reduction; and supporting our allies in their chemical demilitarization efforts. The work never stops. We are emboldened by new technologies developed and tested right here at ECBC, and empowered by our vast experience and highly specialized capabilities. Our mission, to safely perform chemical and biological operations in support of the nation s defense, carries on as we embark upon the next 100 years. Tim Blades CBARR Director of Operations 04 Legacy of CBARR 08 CBARR Workforce 14 CBARR Facilities Table of Contents 20 CBARR Lifecycle 24 Field Operations 30 CB Testing & Analysis 2 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 3
The MV Cape Ray, on which CBARR installed two FDHS systems to destroy Syria s declared chemical weapons stockpile at sea in 2014. T Legacy of CBARR CBARR s evolution parallels U.S. and world history of chemical demilitarization he U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), the nation s primary research and development center for non-medical chemical and biological defense, has a legacy of providing chemical and biological warfare solutions that dates to the origins of Edgewood Arsenal (now Edgewood Area Aberdeen Proving Ground), which was established along the banks of the Gunpowder River by President Woodrow Wilson in October 1917 as a chemical weapons manufacturing facility during World War I. However, earliest records of ECBC performing chemical munitions demilitarization and disposal date back to 1946 when, as part of the Army Chemical Corps, the agency disposed of captured German chemical munitions brought back to Edgewood from Germany after World War II. The munitions were transported by ship in one-ton containers and included experimental nerve agents (GA, GB and GD) made by the Germans. They formed the basis of ECBC s current research and development program, according to Tim Blades, director of operations for CBARR, who has worked at ECBC since 1975. A lot of work done was done at ECBC between 1945 and 1975 to further refine protective masks and clothing, collective protection (such as tents for hospitals), and large decontamination apparatuses designed for use during the Cold War. The Russians had large quantities of chemical weapons stockpiled, Blades said, so we needed to be able to decontaminate large areas for the troops to move through. In the early 1970s, the U.S. government made the decision to get rid of its chemical munitions stockpiles. ECBC worked on technologies to destroy the materials, as well as methods for pollution abatement systems to prevent release of materials into the atmosphere. In the mid 1980s, ECBC began assessing the U.S. stockpile for continued risk versus destruction. SUPLECAM Surveillance of Uploaded Chemical Agent Munitions and the M55 rocket assessment program both involved intrusive sampling of components of the U.S. stockpile in order to assess the purity and stability of the agents and their explosive components. That work lasted through the 1980s. T he predecessor to CBARR, then called the Chemical Support Division, became an identifiable unit when ECBC opened the Chemical Transfer Facility (CTF) in 1981 and Blades became team lead. (For more information on the CTF, see page 15.) The evolution of the unit resulted from combining more functions under his leadership the thermal treatment facility, monitoring work, destruction operations, EDS testing and mask issue. On June 1, 1990, the Wyoming Accord was signed, a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Russia. It was the precursor to the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty of 1997, which more 190 nations, including the United States, operate under now. We d made advances in binary weapons that they (the Russians) couldn t keep up with and I believe that was the reason why they signed the Wyoming Accord, Blades said. CBARR manages ECBC s compliance for the manufacturing and storage of chemical warfare agent for testing and research under this treaty. A year later, CBARR marked a significant milestone, as its name, Chemical Biological Application and Risk Reduction, was formalized, along with the familiar bomblet symbol used to represent the business unit, although the name was already being used informally for some time, Blades said. CBARR wasted no time in getting to work, supporting the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to ensure Iraq s compliance with policies concerning the production and use of chemical weapons after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 1997, CBARR specialists performed 34 separate missions to Iraq to conduct inspections, collect and analyze samples, and conduct destruction and demilitarization operations. CBARR s enduring legacy was firmly established with recent successes on the Cape Ray and Pueblo missions. In 2014, CBARR fulfilled its most publicly recognized mission, eliminating the declared Syrian chemical warfare material stockpile aboard the MV Cape Ray in international waters. Everything about the Cape Ray mission was unprecedented, from the six-month acquisition of the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS) technology to retrofitting the MV Cape Ray in order to install two of the FDHS systems on board. ECBC spearheaded the design and manufacturing of the FDHS, as well as the chemistry behind the neutralization process and in-the-field experience to execute destruction operations. The team successfully destroyed 600 metric tons of Syria s bulk chemical agent. CBARR followed up the Cape Ray mission with the destruction mission at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado in 2015. The PCAPP mission tackled one of the last two U.S. chemical weapons stockpiles and was the first time in three years that the U.S. had performed destruction operations on its own stockpile, a compliance requirement for the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty. Today, CBARR has earned a reputation as the world s premier chemical biological weapons material field response team. CBARR is the recognized leader in providing integrated chemical-biological solutions for customers worldwide. The organization performs global chemical and biological operations in a safe, secure and environmentally sound manner. CBARR s capabilities include field operations; live agent operations; laboratory support, including deployable lab services; risk management; and training. With facilities in the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, CBARR s mission carries on ECBC s legacy of chemical and biological defense service to the Army and the nation. From Top: An employee drains chemical agent from containers brought back from Germany after WW II. CBARR personnel participate in U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq after Gulf War. CBARR personnel examine one-ton containers storing bulk chemical agent at ECBC s Chemical Agent Storage Yard during a training exercise in 1997. A CBARR employee wears Level B protective gear while cleaning up a former chemical research facility at APG in 2017. 4 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 5
Legacy Missions Every mission completed by CBARR adds value to the organization by increasing the organization s pool of knowledge, skills and experience. CBARR s extensive portfolio of accomplishments has set the framework in which the unit operates today. United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) UNSCOM was an organization created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq s compliance with policies concerning the production and use of chemical weapons after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 1997, UNSCOM utilized CBARR specialists to perform 34 separate missions into Iraq to conduct inspections, collect and analyze samples, and conduct destruction operations. While the basis of CBARR s field experience was a result of pilot-plant operations in the 1970 s, much of the current CBARR expertise and competency was further refined as a result of the field expedient and innovative methods utilized in order to be successful in Iraq. Spring Valley, Washington D.C. CBARR has supported environmental remediation operations at the former American University Experiment Station located at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site for more than two decades. Read more about CBARR s longest-running project on page 21. Chemical remediation activities in Australia For the past several years, CBARR has provided support to the Australian Department of Defense during that country s chemical munitions recovery and destruction efforts. Collaborative relationships under multiple cooperative research and development agreements were established with various Australian firms in order to execute the missions. In 2009, CBARR deployed to a World War II-era U.S. ammunition depot in Australia. CBARR worked with the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) to support munitions assessment in preparation of destruction, and deployed again in the summer of 2011 to destroy 144 munitions using explosive destruction technology. CBARR then moved on to the second project, Australia s Defense Science Technology Office, a chemical warfare agent research and development facility located near Melbourne. In September 2012, CBARR began a remedial investigation of the laboratories at the site. CBARR supported the Australian Department of Defense and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons through the winter of 2013 to complete the assessment and ultimate decommissioning of the former labs. The Cape Ray mission CBARR gained worldwide attention by developing, fielding and operating a mobile system to destroy Syria s declared stockpile of chemical warfare material. The operation was carried out at sea in international waters aboard the U.S. Maritime Vessel (MV) Cape Ray. Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado Nearly 17 years ago, the first explosive destruction system (EDS) prototype was under operational testing in the United Kingdom when the call came to deploy the EDS to the former Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado. There, on Jan. 28, 2001, the EDS conducted its first mission, safely destroying GB bomblets that had been recovered from a scrap pile in a former parking lot and were considered to be unsafe for transport to a storage area. Since then, CBARR has safely destroyed thousands of munitions with the EDS at numerous project sites across the country. The mission was initiated in late 2012 when the international community and the United States recognized that chemical agent stockpiles in Syria posed an imminent threat. ECBC teamed up with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense and CMA to develop a shipboard chemical agent destruction system using existing land-based neutralization technology. In 2013, the team conceived, designed, fabricated and systemized the new system, known as the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS), in just six months, an unprecedented accomplishment. Seven FDHS units were built and two were installed on the MV Cape Ray for the destruction operations, which took place in the summer of 2014. The team destroyed almost 600 metric tons of Syrian bulk chemical agent in 42 days, a feat heralded as an American contribution to world peace. CBARR had 46 civilian personnel support the mission from inception to closure. Albanian chemical weapons elimination program Beginning in 2005, CBARR deployed a team of 13 operations experts to Albania to help that country perform a stockpile assessment of 19 metric tons of chemical material in preparation for destruction. In 2007, CBARR returned to support the final stage, destruction of the stockpile. In addition to performing surveillance and assessment of the stockpile prior to destruction, CBARR provided analytical monitoring and analysis, and then demolished the structure and ancillary support systems at the conclusion of the mission. ECBC personnel logged more than 52,000 total man-hours and analyzed more than 5,000 liquid and vapor samples. CBARR deployed again to Albania in 2012 to destroy a newly discovered stockpile of chemical warfare agents. Eleven chemical agents were destroyed over two weeks in a collaborative effort between CBARR, the Central Laboratory, the Logistics Brigade and Albanian armed forces. Pueblo stockpile destruction More recently, CBARR provided support to the Program Executive Office Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives in their efforts to eliminate one of the country s last remaining chemical weapons stockpiles, located at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. CBARR s technicians operated a CMA-owned EDS at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP), built on-site to destroy the stockpile. Between March 2015 and February 2016, CBARR destroyed 560 mustard-filled munitions and containers using the EDS. These items were unsuitable for destruction using the main plant s automated processing systems. In total, 20 months of support was provided in order to carry out this campaign. CBARR is already preparing for the next campaign at PCAPP, which is expected to begin in 2018. Future campaigns are planned through 2019. CBARR will provide ongoing support to the PCAPP mission through the closure and destruction of the plant, which is expected in 2023. 6 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 7
153 CBARR BY THE NUMBERS EMPLOYEES 118 35 @ APG @ PINE BLUFF 129 17 CBARR Workforce As chemical demilitarization missions change, CBARR s fundamental skill sets can be applied in new ways to address customer needs already identified and yet-to-be-discovered. CBARR s portfolio of work is sustained by a diverse workforce that has a depth of knowledge and breadth of experience that ultimately enables the organization to adapt to the unexpected and tackle the unknown. Research Design & Method Development Program Management & Logistics Manages resources and personnel Collaborates with government, industry and academia Calibrates equipment Develops test design & study parameters Assures quality standards Verifies agent concentration Environmental Sampling & Analysis Monitors air Analyzes water and sediment samples Utilizes mobile and fixed laboratories PRP CERTIFIED EMPLOYEES AVERAGE YEARS OF SERVICE 8 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center Operational Equipment & Mechanics Operates material handling equipment (cranes, forklifts, excavators) Operates industrial mechanics (HVAC, pumps, motors) Possesses trade skills (plumbing, carpentry, construction, electrical) Oversees and conducts transportation Chemical & Biological Agent Handling Wears personal protective equipment Uses personnel decontamination stations Operates destruction systems Performs agent synthesis Decontaminates buildings and equipment CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 9
Clockwise, Top, left: CBARR Project Manager Ray Diberardo reviews standard operating procedures with crew members for EDS operations at Dover Air Force Base. Top, center: CBARR workers dismantle a former chemical weapons production facility at APG. Top, right: An operator at the MAPS facility maneuvers a recovered munition inside of a glove box for examination. Bottom, right: A chemist measures chemical agent at the CTF. Bottom, center: A CBARR employee readies for a preoperational survey in preparation for an upcoming mission. Bottom, left: A CBARR operator calibrates monitoring equipment in preparation for operations. 10 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 11
Left: Laura Graham (right), a project manager at CBARR, was among four ECBC employees who received the Modern-Day Technology Leader award at the 2017 BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference. Right: Members of the CBARR Safety Team receiving the Army s Industrial Operations Safety Award from Gen. Dennis Via for their work aboard the MV Cape Ray. Bottom: Members of the FDHS destruction operations crew recognized for their efforts to destroy Syria s declared chemical weapons stockpile Personnel Reliability Program C BARR offers a highly specialized workforce which receives extensive training to safely handle the most lethal chemical and biological materials in the world. A major component of maintaining this high level of safety is the Chemical/Biological Personnel Reliability Program, a Department of Defense program designed to permit only the most trustworthy and medically fit individuals to have access to chemical and biological materials. gations, and regular medical surveillance. Prior to gaining access to chemical and biological agents, CBARR employees must complete a variety of training in the safety of chemical and biological agent handling, CPR, first aid, engineering controls, respiratory protection and hazardous waste management. To receive and maintain PRP certification, each employee annually undergoes a medical exam, drug screening and security review. This data is then reviewed by the certifying official, CBARR s Director of Operations Tim Blades, who determines that the employee is qualified. Award-Winning Workforce T he professionalism and dedication to mission that CBARR employees exhibit, both collectively and individually, does not go unnoticed. CBARR has received awards in recent years for its work in destroying Syria s declared chemical warfare material at sea aboard the MV Cape Ray and for helping to destroy of one of the nation s last chemical weapons stockpiles at PCAPP. Interagency Policy Committee. Blades, who also serves as ECBC s operations director, was honored along with ECBC colleague Fred Berg, Ph.D., division chief of chemical sciences in the ECBC Research and Technology Directorate. Both men were lauded for their contributions in advising the State Department regarding the destruction of the remaining declared stockpile of Libyan chemical weapons. They were the only representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense on the 34-person committee, which included members of the nation s intelligence community. Along with CBARR operational experience, the certification in the Personnel Reliability Program, or PRP, provides customers with a high level of trust in the CBARR workforce. CBARR personnel understand that safety is the number one priority especially when conducting chemical agent handling. The ability to adjust to changes in the working environment, as well as the ability to exercise sound judgment and maintain emotional stability when hazards are present, are critical for CBARR employment, said Tom Rosso, chief of the Program Management Branch at CBARR. Personnel Reliability Program certification is an integral part of CBARR s overall surety program that includes extensive background checks, random drug testing, intensive security investi- The PRP is one of our most critical certifications because it ensures we have reliable people who have stable life situations financial stability, mental stability and physical stability to work around chemical and biological materials, Rosso said. PRP certification reflects ethical, moral and legal standards that an employee has committed to uphold. CBARR s customers, in turn, have a high level of trust in the safety of CBARR because they know that the workers CBARR brings to their work-site have been thoroughly vetted. I know I have safe, trusted and reliable people to do the work, Rosso said. These awards are the result of teamwork within CBARR and collaboration with other agencies involved in the safe disposal of chemical weapons, such as CMA and its Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel Directorate, which oversees the assessment and destruction operations for which CBARR provides technical and operational assistance. In addition to these team awards, several CBARR personnel were recently acknowledged for individual contributions. In January, CBARR Director of Operations Tim Blades received the Superior Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State for being a member of the Libyan Chemical Weapons In February, Laura Graham, a CBARR project manager, was one of four employees from the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center who were recognized as 2017 Modern-Day Technology Leaders during the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA). She was acknowledged at a luncheon during the 31 st annual BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference, which brings professionals and students from a wide variety of STEM-related fields together to promote diversity in STEM careers. Graham, a chemical engineer, has worked at CBARR for 11 years and recently relocated to Edgewood from ECBC s facilities at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. Top, left: ECBC operator wearing PPE during FDHS operations. Top, right: A CBARR scientist prepares chemical agent at the CTF. Bottom, left: Dilute agents being prepared by CBARR scientist Nancy Pusey of the CASARM Team. Bottom, right: CBARR biologist Andrew Bailey prepares samples in a bio safety cabinet. 12 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 13
Chemical Transfer Facility C BARR manages the Chemical Transfer Facility (CTF), designated as the nation s only declared single small-scale facility under the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty. The CTF is the single repository for the Army s supply of chemical agents used to conduct defensive research and development throughout the Department of Defense. 2015, ECBC received approval from the U.S. State Department and Dept. of Commerce, under regulations set forth by the OPCW, to increase its storage allotment of chemical agent to support testing of the DAVINCH- LITE (Detonation Ammunition in a Vacuum Integrated Chamber) and P2A explosive destruction systems. CBARR oversaw testing of both systems last year at ECBC and a second round of testing on the DAVINCH- LITE is scheduled this year. A chemist works with various agents for study and research at the CTF. CBARR Facilities CBARR maintains several one-of-a-kind facilities that are critical to the success of the organization s mission. These facilities, located at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood, Maryland, and Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, support CBARR s chemical and biological surety operations in the laboratories and test chambers as well as in the field. The designation is given by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which governs the treaty, signed by more than 190 countries including the U.S. As a signatory to the treaty, each country is only allowed to have one small-scale production facility that manufactures chemical warfare material. When the U.S. had an offensive program, we had large-scale facilities in larger buildings filling rounds with chemical agent, said Jen Exelby, chief of CBARR s Chemical Operations Branch. Now, only a small-scale facility such as ours is permitted by the treaty. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, the CTF is certified as both a single small-scale facility and a destruction facility, which is unusual, according to CBARR s Wyatt McNutt, who serves as the treaty compliance officer for ECBC. Other facilities are either storage or destruction only. As a single small-scale facility, the CTF is the only facility in the U.S. that is allowed to produce Schedule 1 materials (chemical agents) in quantities greater than 100 grams per year. We store and make all of the chemical agent that any organization in the U.S. needs, McNutt said. We generally make 20 to 30 times that amount in each batch. Schedule 1 chemical warfare agent material, also referred to as neat agent, is a classification for chemicals that have the highest purity possible, Exelby said. Neat agents are used for medical and defense testing, such as testing personal protective equipment like charcoal in a gas mask. Neat agents are also used for testing explosive destruction technology to prove the systems before their actual use. In late The CTF usually manufactures batches of 2,500 ml; however, customers are requesting 40,000 ml for test projects such as these. Operationally, we re limited on how much we can make in one batch, Exelby said. So it can take several months to produce what we need for testing. The increased limit gives us flexibility in planning for production. This was about knowing our customer needs and increasing the amounts to meet future testing requirements for new destruction technologies, McNutt added. We received permission to increase our storage allotment. This, in turn, allowed us to increase production. The CTF also produces dilute agent, which is less concentrated and has fewer safety and handling requirements, Exelby said. Dilute agent is used for calibrating instruments and detectors. All chemical agents used in these studies are prepared by and shipped from the CTF to customers such as other governmental agencies and contractor facilities. The agents produced in the CTF are also used at U.S. facilities which specialize in developing chemical warfare defenses such as respirators and protective clothing, and in confirmation testing for new chemical agent decontamination and elimination technologies. Technicians carefully handle an old munition in a glove box in the MAPS. Munitions Assessment and Processing System T he Munitions Assessment and Processing System (MAPS) facility is designed to receive and process a wide variety of stable, explosively and non-explosively configured chemical munitions. Inside the MAPS facility are specialized glove boxes, drilling and cutting hardware, explosive containment chambers and air filtration systems. CBARR personnel safely access and drain explosively configured chemical-filled munitions, extracting a liquid sample for analysis at CBARR s Environmental Monitoring Laboratory (EML). CBARR operators decontaminate those components, then destroy the empty munition bodies and collect the waste material for disposal at waste management facilities in accordance with environmental regulations. MAPS is only operational on a limited basis, as very few munitions are approved for transport to the facility for treatability studies, as they are called. Out of the hundreds of munitions CBARR has processed in the past five years, only 10 have been processed through MAPS for treatability studies and final disposition, said Cheryl Kyle, CBARR project manager for MAPS. The facility was initially built to destroy non-stockpile chemical munitions found here at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Kyle said, but those operations have been completed and the facility was transferred to CBARR to perform treatability studies on munitions like the ones we received from Dover. 14 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 15
In 2016, processing began on three projectiles recovered in the Atlantic Ocean. The items were discovered in 2014 by commercial fisherman during clamshell dredging off the Delaware coast and brought to Dover Air Force Base. After an initial assessment, the items were deemed safe for transport and brought to ECBC in July 2015. The munitions were stored in a bunker at ECBC to await further assessment, and ultimately, destruction. In February 2016, the first of the three munitions was assessed by CBARR s process technology team, operators of the MAPS facility. A visual inspection showed a hole in the bottom of the projectile and no liquid fill. To obtain a sample, the operators scraped the inside walls of the projectile. Sample analysis performed by the EML determined that the empty munition previously contained mustard agent. In August, two 75-mm projectiles were unpacked at the MAPS facility for sampling. Liquid samples were extracted and analyzed by the EML. Both munitions were determined to contain chloropicrin, an industrial chemical. On Dec. 5, destruction operations began on the 75-mm projectile with trace amounts of residual mustard agent. The munition was decontaminated, then moved to the burst detonation vessel and destroyed. The remains of the destroyed munition were placed in a drum and headspace monitoring was performed. Once cleared, the scraps were disposed of in an appropriated waste facility. Awaiting final disposition are the two 75- mm projectiles with the chloropicrin fill. Kyle said these two items will be destroyed at a later date. Data collected from the analysis of these chemical munitions will help future on-site assessments be more definitive. An enclosure at the PDTDF where testing of new explosive destruction technology takes place. Prototype Detonation Test and Destruction Facility T he Prototype Detonation Test and Destruction Facility (PDTDF) is used to test and demonstrate technologies to destroy unexploded ordnance and exploit explosively configured munitions with unknown fills. The PDTDF is capable of testing technologies that require various site layouts. The facility can accommodate the heaviest of the transportable systems that have been tested, such as DAVINCHLITE and P2A explosive destruction systems. Both systems were housed side-by-side at the PDTDF in summer 2016 for testing. The DAVINCHLITE is a portable explosive destruction technology that was tested for potential use in the U.S. by its manufacturer, Kobe Steel of Japan. The P2A (pictured right) is an updated model of the P2 EDS, which is designed for use at future PCAPP EDS operations. The P2A is expected to be put in operation for the next round of destruction of problematic chemical munitions in 2018, and CBARR personnel will again serve as operators of the EDS for the PCAPP mission. The facility also includes a 2,500-squarefoot containment chamber monitored by an on-site monitoring room. The environmentally controlled chamber has the capability of providing supplied air and decontamination services. Sample Receipt Facility T he Sample Receipt Facility (SRF) is a full-range national response center with laboratories to receive, triage, sample and screen unknown samples coming from anywhere in the world, including military theaters of operation, intelligence organizations and law enforcement agencies. The SRF is the first multi-agency funded project at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, with the Army, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security all contributing to the construction and operations cost of the facility. CBARR coordinates collaboration between these agencies in order to render unknown samples safe for further processing by the agencies. The SRF provides an environmentally safe and sound manner in which these agencies, with assistance from CBARR, conduct analysis. The 40,000-square-foot facility contains many specialized areas in order to complete the mission. An explosive chamber is available for the receipt and triage of explosively configured samples. Two Biological Safety Level 3 labs are available to work with biological samples. An evidence intake and processing bay with triage laboratory is the starting point for all non-explosive samples, and after initial triage, there are forensic examination and containment labs for further analysis if needed. Large Area Storage Operations Test Bed E CBC s Large Area Storage Operations test bed houses two Hercules C-130 test planes, one in a clippedwing configuration within an enclosure. The site is permitted for conducting detection and decontamination testing with research, development test and evaluation levels of chemical and biological agents. Right: The P2A EDS inside one of the test chambers at the PDTDF at APG. 16 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 17
Total Lifecycle Field CB Testing & CBARR Management Page 20 Operations Page 24 Analysis Page 30 Capabilities & Project Highlights CBARR is the recognized leader in providing integrated chemical and biological solutions for customers around the world. CBARR accomplishes its mission by performing chemical and biological operations in a safe and environmentally sound manner. 2016 was one of CBARR s busiest years on record. From Alabama to Hawaii, CBARR supported chemical operations projects by the U.S. government by supporting field operations that included environmental investigations at several current and former military installations; destroying more of the nation s chemical weapons stockpile as well as chemical munitions discovered during previous remedial efforts; providing training to first and secondary responders; and deploying mobile labs and utilizing fixed labs at ECBC to provide near real-time analysis of air, soil and water samples. CBARR is able to complete its work through unique partnerships developed with federal agencies, international organizations and the private sector. 18 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 19
The Spring Valley mission began in 1993 when old chemical munitions were uncovered residential street in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood. Spring Valley Mission Spans Decades CBARR adapts as requirements change over the life of a project A CBARR employee wearing PPE prepares a munition for destruction at Spring Valley. Total Lifecycle Management CBARR s lifecycle management capabilities enable the organization to support a customer from the initial environmental investigation through cleanup and closure of a site. Often, that can mean a return trip to the client site and remaining flexible until a project is complete. But there is one project that CBARR has provided continuous support throughout its extended lifecycle, now going into its 24th year: Spring Valley. I n a tree-lined neighborhood in the northwest corner of the District of Columbia sits CBARR s longest running project, now spanning its fourth generation of leadership. The Spring Valley mission is a testament to CBARR s project management capability as a project s requirements expand, shift and change throughout its lifecycle. The way we do our job here has evolved since the beginning, said Dave Kline, CBARR s current project manager for Spring Valley. How we monitor worker safety, from the duct work to the power supply, are among the advances we ve made. For more than two decades, CBARR has been conducting operations in support of the U.S. Army Engineering Support Center Huntsville at the former American University Experiment Station located at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site. The site includes approximately 660 acres which were used by the U.S. Army during World War I for testing chemical weapons. After World War II, the land was developed into a residential area known for its suburban feel and prime location. Now the area encompasses 1,600 private properties including American University and Wesley Seminary. In the early 1990s, new construction unearthed items from the war years. Since 1993, environmental cleanup efforts, including remedial investigations and destruction operations, have taken place at a variety of locations around Spring Valley and CBARR has been there every step of the way. Originally, we were told that our support would only be needed for six months, said Tom Rosso, chief of CBARR s program management branch and a 26-year CBARR employee. To be successfully supporting this mission after so many years is a reflection of the relationship we ve developed with our customer, the Army Corps of Engineers. We know this team as well as any other team we ve worked with, and they ve remained consistent over the years, from the project managers to the contractor. 20 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 21
CBARR provides air monitoring and on-site laboratory support during excavations, examinations of pits and other remediation activities at various locations throughout the former defense site. That support includes providing the air filtration systems for enclosed operations as well as other related systems to ensure the safety of the operators, the environment and the public. In addition, CBARR chemists perform soil and unknown analyses at a fixed laboratory at ECBC. In total, CBARR has worked with partners throughout the multiple environmental investigations, and processed thousands of air, soil and unknown samples for analysis. CBARR also planned and executed three destruction operations at Spring Valley. The team has managed the destruction and disposal of more than 130 recovered items, including chemical-filled and conventional munitions and old glass containers that had been used for chemical experiments. CBARR has managed the destruction and disposal of more than recovered items, including chemical-filled and conventional munitions at the Spring Valley site. Currently, work at Spring Valley is focused on a lot where a house was demolished in late 2012. This site was the most prevalent, as far as items being unearthed, in comparison to the other home properties, said Kline. The only way to be 100 percent sure that the lot was safe was to strip it down to the porous rock, and that s what they did. This particular work-site, in a densely populated neighborhood, is far from CBARR s usual work environment on active or former installations located in remote areas and provided a unique challenge to the team. CBARR s air filtration systems are noisy, an unsuitable quality for operating equipment next to homes. Kline worked with a commercial manufacturer to specially design a noise abatement system to quell the sound coming from the blowers on the air filtration systems. Mufflers which look like rectangular boxes jutting into the sky are attached to the blowers, diffusing the noise. Now all you hear is a gentle hum when you walk on-site, Kline said. In addition to the noise abatement systems, the chemical agent filtration systems to which the mufflers are attached have undergone major redesigns over the years to double in capacity while reducing the overall footprint on-site. Adaptations have also been made to the ductwork used to connect the environmental enclosures and filtration systems. Other technological advances have been applied over the years, including a CBARR-patented mobile powered distribution system to give CBARR equipment its own remote power supply. And adjustments are made as needed, often with a quick fix. Recently, Kline said, the MINICAMS were experiencing radio frequency interference from the surrounding area. Relocating the equipment into a different ISO container office and wrapping the ISO container with fencing wire solved the problem, Kline said. Remediation at the current site is expected to be complete in mid-2017 and the lot will be regraded for future use. However, work on the overall Spring Valley mission continues. The Army Corps of Engineers is already planning the next phase and CBARR, as it has been for the past two decades, remains committed to supporting the cleanup effort. Above: Specially designed mufflers were attached to CBARR s custom-built chemical agent filtration systems on the current Spring Valley remediation site in order to reduce the noise coming from the machines. 22 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 23
Environmental Investigations and Destruction Operations Form Backbone of CBARR Activity TEADS Project offers a case study in the scope of field operations Approximately 50,000 pieces of debris were cleared off former test fields at Tooele Army Depot in Utah in an early remediation phase. Field Operations A majority of CBARR s services are performed in the field, at formerly used defense sites around the world. CBARR has become an expert in restoring sites in an environmentally conscious manner, so those sites can be reused either by the military, if they are on active installations, or for mixed reuse in the communities where they re located. CBARR s field operations includes environmental studies, and remediation. A fter five years of project support, environmental investigations at the Tooele Army Depot-South (TEADS) in Utah concluded in March, and all CBARR personnel and equipment returned home. The TEADS mission is a case study of the scope of CBARR s field operations services, and how the organization provides continuous support throughout the various phases of the process to restore current and former federal lands. CBARR supports the Department of Defense s mission to environmentally assess Formerly Used Defense Sites around the country, including decommissioned military bases, portions of active installations where chemical weapons were manufactured or stored, and other sites that once housed facilities for chem-bio research. Projects often start with a phone call from the U.S. Army Engineering Support Center Huntsville (USAESCH), the Army s lead agency for chemical remediation projects and a valued CBARR customer. They provide CBARR with a profile of the job, what they expect to find there, as well as a timetable. Initial phases include historical reviews and documentation of the project goals and operational plans, followed by feasibility studies and remediation; while the final stages involve destruction, decontamination and restoring a site for reuse. Since 2012, CBARR has supported the USAESCH project at TEADS, formerly called Deseret Chemical Depot. The depot stored more than 40 percent of the nation s stockpile of chemical weapons for over 50 years until destroyed in the Tooele Chemical Agent Destruction Facility. When the Army planned to hand over the property to Tooele Army Depot, the Army Corps of Engineers sought the expertise of CBARR to help transfer the facility in a safe and secure manner. The site contained a massive debris pile, said John Ditillo, project manager for environmental investigations. An estimated 50,000 munitions at the site had to be cleared off of the surface. Most of items were non-chemical and the disposal of these items was handled by the site contractor. However, more than 200 chemical munitions were recovered and placed in storage in an earth-covered igloo on the installation. As with most environmental studies, CBARR provided air monitoring and sample analysis during intrusive operations. CBARR has supported a number of open-air digs at various locations on the depot, as well as sample analysis for hundreds of storage igloos that had been previously used to store the weapons stockpile and some hazardous waste. CBARR also supported surface stabilizations and remediation efforts for areas in solid waste management units, including a surface sweep of two large areas to pick up debris left over from the disposal of material from chemical operations as well as the recovery of possible munitions, such as grenades that were buried in a large dirt pit. CBARR s expertise in near real-time and historical air monitoring has played a critical role during intrusive operations, helping to determine proper shipment and disposal for analyzed soil and debris samples. Samples requiring additional low-level analysis were cleared on-site using DAAMS or MINICAMS equipment, and then commercially shipped back to Edgewood for analysis to determine low-level chemical agent and related agent breakdown products. The first phase lasted a year and a half, after crews had removed all scrap metal larger than a dime from the surface drums, nails, binding straps and munitions. Then they used ground-penetrating radar to see what was under the surface. We wanted to find out if anything was buried munitions, drums, anything, Ditillo said. The mission of the project was to define the problem and present our findings to the Army Environmental Center for them to make further recommendations for additional remediation. In the summer of 2016, CBARR carried out the destruction phase of the Tooele project in support of CMA, which oversees destruction of the nation s chemical weaponry, processing items that were discovered during earlier investigations and stored on-site. 24 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 25
Destruction operations are crucial to the country s chemical biological defense program. As a signatory of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the U.S. government is required to destroy its remaining chemical weapons, including those that are in storage or those previously buried and recovered from remote areas of installations prior to the stringent environmental regulations now in place. Every destruction mission brings the U.S. in compliance with the treaty. Recent Environmental Investigations In addition to TEADS and Spring Valley, CBARR supported environmental investigations around the country in 2016, from the Deep South to the western desert to the islands of Hawaii. These projects include: Working in partnership with CMA and its Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate, CBARR has implemented effective methods for safely storing and handling deteriorating, explosively configured weapons, destruction of unearthed chemical munitions, and disposal of bulk chemical agent and old Department of Transportation containers. CBARR personnel operate CMA s EDS units. The EDS is a self-contained, transportable destruction chamber designed to dispose of recovered chemical munitions in a clean and environmentally sound process, eliminating the need to transport potentially hazardous materials to a suitable disposal facility. During the seven-month deployment of CBARR personnel to TEADS, a total of 235 recovered items were successfully processed in the EDS. The EDS and support equipment operated with no lost time for unscheduled maintenance, according to Ray Diberardo, CBARR s project manager who handles destruction projects like TEADS. He added that the 20-person crews rotated to the site with minimal overlap. The destruction operation was completed more than four months ahead of schedule. The TEADS project is a testament to great planning, integration and training, said Diberardo. Redstone Arsenal, Alabama Yuma, Arizona During the planning of the multi-year investigation and remediation of multiple sites across Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, the expectation was that CBARR would conduct extraction and analysis of environmental samples at ECBC. However, as numerous concurrent operations began in 2016 at Redstone, the U.S. Army Engineering Support Center Huntsville requested additional CBARR support. CBARR s mission expanded to include headspace analysis of samples prior to shipment to ECBC for low-level extraction, and analysis and support to investigation sites with on-site monitoring and laboratory analysis. CBARR deployed equipment and personnel to Redstone Arsenal and have continuously provided on-site support for multiple sites with continued efforts planned throughout 2017 and beyond. CBARR supported a remedial investigation feasibility study on two test fields at Yuma Proving Ground, one of the largest military installations in the world. Previously, the sites were used to test chemical agents in high temperatures and are suspected to be contaminated with a host of chemicals, including mustard agents, nerve agent and phosgene. Now, the U.S. Army Engineer Support Center Huntsville has earmarked them for cleanup. CBARR analyzed water and soil samples from trenches where munitions were previously buried; performed headspace monitoring of soil, scrap metal and even personal protective equipment used at the site; and supported medical monitoring of workers. Initially planned as a winter project, work lasted from January through July 2016 and the sites closed in September 2016. Edgewood, Maryland Savanna, Illinois In late 2016, a building characterization and investigation study began on former laboratory facilities at ECBC. Built in the 1940s, some of these buildings have not been used in nearly 10 years and are scheduled for destruction in 2018. But before any demolition activities can begin, the buildings must be cleared of any residual chemical agent as the first step for removal in an environmentally friendly way. CBARR is supporting the USAESCH by providing air and medical monitoring of workers and lab analysis at the work-site. The investigation is expected to conclude in late spring 2017. CBARR supported the U.S. Army Engineer Support Center Huntsville in the investigation of three mustard burn areas at the former Savanna Army Depot. Between April and December 2016, CBARR personnel provided near-real-time and historical air monitoring on-site. More than 150 soil and groundwater samples were analyzed at a fixed lab at ECBC, while several general population monitoring samples were collected and sent to ECBC s laboratory in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Two items were recovered during operations. One of the munitions was determined to not contain any chemical agent and was managed locally. The second item was found to potentially contain mustard agent and must be destroyed using an explosive destruction system. CBARR is planning re-deployment to Savanna in 2017 for destruction operations. As one aspect of the project completed its lifecycle, the CBARR environmental investigations team deployed to Tooele in fall 2016 to begin anew on a different site at the depot. Their mission this time was to investigate the environment around identified burial pits. Any chemical agent that s in the ground could potentially seep into the water table and migrate off post, Ditillo said. We assessed what, if any, contamination exists. CBARR received soil and water samples that were collected using drill rigs and shipped those samples to the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center for analysis. They also performed air monitoring during operations. Anytime there s an intrusive activity during operations, our team is monitoring the air for chemical agent, said Ditillo. While the CBARR scope of operations at TEADS included sampling, analysis, air monitoring, recovery, storage and ultimately destruction operations, the end of work at TEADS is not the end of CBARR support. Similar lifecycle scopes are ongoing or completed at sites around the country which continues supports the goal of ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction. Approximately 50,000 pieces of debris were cleared off former test fields at Tooele Army Depot in Utah in an early remediation phase. 26 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 27
Recent Destruction Operations CBARR returned to remediated sites to destroy chemical-containing items that had been discovered during intrusive operations. CBARR also supported the destruction operations taking place at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, where one of the Army s last two remaining chemical weapons stockpiles is being eliminated, a final step in the process to rid the country of chemical weapons. Recently, CBARR technicians operated explosive destruction systems at three sites. Here are details on the TEADS EDS mission and the other two EDS operations which took place in 2016. Top, left: A submersible vehicle is used to collect sediment and water samples in order to do munitions studies for the HUMMA Project. Top, right: A CBARR technician prepares a munition for destruction at PCAPP. Bottom, left: Outside of the EDS enclosure at the Lakehurst mission in New Jersey. Bottom, center: CBARR technicians review final instructions while preparing a recovered chemical munition for destruction. Bottom, right: Debris from Yuma Proving Ground. Tooele, Utah Lakehurst, New Jersey CBARR deployed to TEADS on March 28, 2016 in preparation for destruction operations. Actual destruction of the items began June 4, 2016 and was completed in early fall, more than four months ahead of schedule. A crew of 20, including 12 EDS operators, destroyed 235 items containing mustard agent, including 4.2-inch mortars, 155 mm and 75 mm projectiles. Most of 50,000 items cleared off the site were non-chemical but these recovered chemical-containing munitions required destruction in the EDS. Two WWI-era chemical munitions were destroyed by CBARR in one weekend in July 2016 at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The munitions were uncovered from the parachute jump circle, a former bombing target area, at Lakehurst during a remedial investigation in 2015. A crew of 15 personnel, including eight EDS operators, destroyed a 75mm round containing mustard agent and a Livens projectile containing phosgene. Pueblo, Colorado 28 Kipapa Gulch, Hawaii Oahu, Hawaii During World War II, the U.S. Navy drilled more than 120 tunnels into the lava-rock cliffs in central Oahu and stored explosives and chemical munitions in them. CBARR and a team of agencies mobilized in late 2015 and investigated 84 of these tunnels for potential contamination. CBARR analyzed 750 historical background air monitoring samples in its onsite mobile laboratory. In addition, CBARR s Environmental Monitoring Laboratory at Edgewood performed extraction analysis of more than 500 soil and concrete samples collected from the tunnels for sulfur mustard and related degradation products. The project concluded in May 2016. The Hawaii Undersea Munitions Material Assessment (HUMMA) is unique in that in involves ocean-based operations. Since 2009, CBARR has been assisting the University of Hawaii in studying chemical munitions that were dumped into the Pacific Ocean after World War II, just south of Pearl Harbor. CBARR has provided air monitoring and analysis of hundreds of sediment and water samples, as well as decontamination operations, all done by crew members in a submersible vehicle on the ocean floor. In March 2016, CBARR was asked by the university to do its third undersea assessment. CBARR completed the task in a weekend, which was unprecedented for that type of operation and an unexpected surprise for the customer. U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center Supporting the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, known as PEO ACWA, on a multi-agency team, CBARR wrapped up the first phase of operations with the PCAPP EDS at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Between March 2015 and February 2016, CBARR operators safely destroyed 560 overpacked chemical munitions and Department of Transportation cylinders containing mustard agent, which had been previously sampled or leaked in the past, rendering them unsuitable for destruction using the main plant s automated processing systems. Setup for EDS destruction operations at Lakehurst in July 2016. CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 29
CBARR s Laboratory Continues Pacesetting Volume Environmental Monitoring Laboratory s fixed and mobile lab services support global missions Samples being processed by CBARR s Environmental Monitoring Laboratory CB Testing & Analysis CBARR provides laboratory testing and analysis in its fixed laboratory facilities at Edgewood and with mobile labs that can be dispatched to anywhere in the world that CBARR is working. CBARR also supports the nation s efforts in providing standards for chemical agent use. F ebruary marked another high-volume month for CBARR s Environmental Monitoring Laboratory (EML), which collected and analyzed five times the number of samples it processed in January. The EML provides analysis of large volumes of environmental and worker protection monitoring data, with rapid-turnaround reporting for chemical warfare agents and degradation products. The laboratory analyzed almost 2,000 environmental samples in February, which were received from remedial investigation sites such as Tooele Army Depot, Redstone Arsenal, Spring Valley, as well as a building characterization study at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The lab also processed more than 500 air samples primarily for waste screening down to the vapor screening limit, and additional sorbent samples for general population monitoring levels. Despite the large number of samples, the team met its analysis turn-around goal in 92 percent of the samples, according to Tom Rosso, chief of CBARR s program management branch. The fine work that our EML team continues to produce each month under a heavy workload only demonstrates the commitment and dedication of each person in the CBARR workforce to the success of our overall mission, Rosso said. The majority of the workload has been in support of soil sample analysis from four remedial investigations across the United States for the U.S. Army Engineering Support Center Huntsville (USAESCH) and two investigations here at Aberdeen Proving Ground for the Army Garrison. In addition to the USAESCH, the EML routinely supports various projects across ECBC; as well as the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity, and industry partners around the world. We provide standardized testing services unique to the Army because of the chemical warfare agents we target, said John Schwarz, analytical chemistry manager for the EML. We are different than an R&D laboratory and more like a commercial environmental testing lab. It s a necessary and relied upon service that we are happy to provide. Three years ago, the EML became the first U.S. laboratory to receive accreditation under the Department of Defense Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP) for testing chemical warfare agent and degradation products in environmental samples. Since then, annual accreditation assessments keep the EML performing on pace. EML manager John Schwarz & scientist Laura Elliott track results of environmental analyses performed for a customer. The EML is continuing its pacesetting volume of testing and analysis that was set last year. Last fall was one of the busiest seasons for the EML. Chemists, scientists, technicians, quality assurance analysts and other staff at the EML put in 12-hour days seven days a week and worked through a holiday weekend to keep up with customer demand. The EML has made improvements to its procedures and improved the efficiency of its methods, all items that ELAP took note of in its most recent accreditation review in September. With ELAP, we have a third-party accreditation assessment in addition to our Army assessments, Schwarz said. 30 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 31
THREE YEARS AGO THE Right: Scientist Laura Elliott extracts a sample for analysis at the EML at ECBC. One of the unique features of the EML is its capability to provide fast turnaround on test results, which is key on worksites where the results drive operational decisions, including the release of split samples to commercial labs for further analysis. We need to report results for samples that are free of agent contamination quickly to not impact specific hold times related to commercial laboratory testing, said Schwarz. Samples with any presence of chemical warfare agent contamination are not released to commercial laboratories for further analysis. The EML staff is a multi-disciplinary team of 20 personnel. Of those, 14 people are stationed in Edgewood and six are permanently located at ECBC laboratory at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. The team travels around the world to work on-site with customers in addition to performing work in fixed labs at Edgewood and Pine Bluff. A team of six quality assurance analysts pours over field-generated data and reports, just one of the four levels of the data quality review process. Completed data packages are provided to the customer for third-party validation. WAS THE FIRST DOD LAB TO RECEIVE ACCREDITATION FOR TESTING CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENT CBARR s field operations capabilities are bolstered by its in-house laboratory support, including mobile labs which are dispatched to work-sites both domestically and abroad. A significant accomplishment in the last year for the EML was the extension of the ELAP accreditation to a mobile lab that the EML used in Hawaii. The Kipapa Gulch project stretched the boundaries of the ELAP and boosted the quality of work provided remotely by the EML. Extending the ELAP certification to the mobile lab also provided a substantial cost savings to the customer. Located in the middle of Oahu, the former Kipapa Ammunition Depot was used by the U.S. Navy in the early 1940 s to store ammunition in tunnels drilled into the cliffs. Some archival reports indicated that a few of the tunnels may have stored chemical munitions. Providing support to the USAESCH, CBARR and a team of agencies mobilized in September 2015 to the old depot and investigated 84 of these tunnels for potential contamination. Over the course of the project, which lasted through May 2016, the EML performed extraction analysis of more than 500 soil, water and concrete samples collected from the tunnels for sulfur mustard and related degradation products. More than 400 of those samples were extracted and analyzed utilizing the on-site mobile laboratory and the standards set forth by the ELAP. The remaining samples were shipped to Edgewood for analysis. The EML also provided air monitoring during intrusive operations at the site. CBARR s CASARM Team Supports ECBC, DoD with Chemical Agent Standards CASARM s quality assurance team ensures highest standards for chemical agent production are met L ive agent handling is a unique capability at ECBC, and developing standards for agent compounds requires a depth of knowledge, specialized skill set and unparalleled safety when calibrating equipment for experiments. ECBC supplies other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies and supporting contractors with dilute agent reference materials that are validated and certified by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command s Chemical Agent Standard Analytical Reference Material (CASARM) Quality Assurance Team The CASARM Quality Assurance Team provides National Institute of Standards and Technology traceable chemical agent solutions for laboratories that conduct agent monitoring to ensure that analytical instrumentation can qualify and quantify chemical agent material. These dilute agents are prepared by CBARR scientists who create a test methodology in order for the agents to meet a stringent set of quality assurance standards. Customers, including other governmental agencies managing chemical demilitarization activities, place orders with the CASARM Quality Assurance Team. CBARR s Chemical Transfer Facility then manufactures and packages the product. Customers rely on CBARR s ability to produce CASARM-certified standards because they know exactly what s in the agents when they get it, and how long it will last. Part of the CASARM quality assurance program is to verify concentrations and do periodic quality checks. While the methodology is built on a strong foundation used to standardize traditional agent, scientists must be able to adapt their processes to accommodate new properties and reactions, and consider new applications for existing equipment. Recently, CBARR s CASARM Dilutes Analysis Laboratory developed an innovative dual-column approach for live agent concentration verification. The dual column processing was used to meet the CASA- RM Quality Assurance Team s rigorous requirements for two independent forms of detection. Generating two sets of confirmatory data in the time of one analytical run cuts the total amount of analytical time in half. The data acquired is consistent, reproducible and predictable. The CASARM Quality Assurance Team as an office also administers the proficiency testing program, which provides a way to challenge an individual laboratory s ability to positively identify and quantify chemical agent. The CASARM Quality Assurance Team also certifies specific organizations that perform safety agent air monitoring and provide subject matter expertise to ECBC s Quality Performance Team at Rock Island, Ill. The Quality Performance Team certifies laboratories, both government and contractor, that test Army products for chemical agent protection per specific requirements. 32 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 33
Director s Outlook CBARR and the Next Century When Gunpowder Reservation was created as the site of the first U.S. chemical shell filling plant in 1917, the men and women who worked there likely never imagined that a hundred years later, chemical weapons destruction operations would have long-since replaced chemical shell filling operations as one of the primary capabilities of what would become ECBC. Just as those first Army chemical workers could not have imagined a world of hand-held chemical detectors, we cannot accurately predict what future challenges CBARR might face or how our organization might evolve to overcome them. What we do know is that for the foreseeable future, there is a need for the work that we do. The elimination of the nation s stockpiled chemical weapons will continue, and destruction facilities will continuously operate in Pueblo, Colorado, and Blue Grass, Kentucky, for many years to come. We are prepared to support those efforts, even as we continue to maintain equipment, operators, scientists and technicians to support elimination of non-stockpile chemical warfare material. Whether discovered as a result of an environmental investigation, a removal action or just an accidental discovery, destruction of these items requires CBARR to maintain a workforce capable of deploying throughout the U.S. and conducting operations that could range from one month to over a year. The challenge in chemical and biological defense is that while the big stockpiles controlled by sovereign nations are going away, a new paradigm is opening up where non-state terrorist groups are seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Such organizations are looking for cheap ways to eliminate entire populations, and unfortunately, chemical and biological agents can now be cheaply made. Therefore, we will maintain our infrastructure to test and operate equipment and systems designed to eliminate chemical warfare material in a non-permissive environment. There is also a huge global demand for conventional weapons elimination. We re looking at opportunities to partner with countries like Canada to provide solutions to the growing number of recovered and expired conventional munitions. As the public is less inclined to accept open air detonation of these munitions, CBARR can provide trained and experienced operators to conduct conventional destruction within a closed detonation chamber. Our services have also been tapped to expand outside of the U.S. to assist other countries with subject matter expertise for environmental remediation projects and contaminated building demolition. As always, we will continue to support our networks of partners by providing chemical analysis and soil remediation services. It is critical that our organization is agile enough to shift priorities as history has demonstrated that things can change quickly. In the early 1990s, a new presidential administration abruptly shifted the focus away from defense site cleanup projects, and the funding for those efforts diminished. Now, as another new administration establishes its priorities, the funding for installation restoration, and environmental cleanup on formerly used defense sites, may be moved elsewhere. We are heavily invested in supporting customers in these areas, and we must be prepared to look at new applications for our capabilities should funding priorities change. I can t see what lies ahead a hundred years from now much more effectively that those first Army chemical workers could back in 1917, so I don t spend a lot of time analyzing the future, past the point of those things that I can personally affect. We will remain flexible and energetic in our business practices and capabilities, and because of that, we will remain an active player in chemical and biological defense operations worldwide. And I m sure I d be just as amazed at, and proud of, the evolution of CBARR in 2117 as those first Army chemical workers would be if they could see CBARR today. Tim Blades CBARR Director of Operations 34 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center CBARR News A Legacy of Solutions 35
What s the Word? Contact Us! Have a story for the CBARR News? Send article suggestions, questions or comments to the ECBC Public Affairs Officer Richard Arndt at richard.m.arndt.civ@mail.mil. Beyond the Newsletter For all of the latest CBRNE defense efforts at ECBC stay connected by following us on the web. www.ecbc.army.mil www.facebook.com/edgewoodchembiocenter @EdgewoodChemBio www.youtube.com/user/edgewoodchembio www.flickr.com/photos/edgewoodchembiocenter 36 U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center