Demolition of US chemical weapons destruction plant begins
Demolition works at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, which was the centrepiece of the United States' destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles, began on 15 April.
According to DVIDS, the demolition subcontractor, Independence Excavating, is tearing down the main plant, while the first structures to come down were the filter bank clean-air exhaust stacks in the munitions demilitarisation building.
Before demolition works could begin, equipment was cleaned and dismantled and rooms were decontaminated of chemical agent, with the results being confirmed by unventilated monitoring tests. Officials from the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection have verified that the plant is free from any chemical-agent liability.
Decommissioning and decontaminating the main plant began a few days after the last chemical weapon was destroyed on 7 July 2023. In the months since then, workers and operators performed around 4,500 entries to effectively decontaminate and in many cases, remove agent-contaminated equipment.
The final steps before demolition began were removing universal and electronic waste, capping off water lines and fire suppression systems and shutting off the electricity. The two static detonation chamber units where drained, containerised rocket warheads, classified as agent-contaminated secondary waste, were processed, are also ready for demolition.
The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant destroyed more than 523 tons of mustard and nerve agent stored at the depot since the 1940s. The demolition stage is expected to be complete in 2027, followed by administrative close-out in 2028.
