THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering and Medicine

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

This Page is Blank

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

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

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, Director of the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA). The study dealt primarily with the activities of the Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project (NSCMP), which falls organizationally 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 chemical materiel. About 250 such sites, located in 40 states and territories of the United States, are thought to exist. Remediation 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 destruction systems (EDSs), used for destruction of RCWM, and arranges for use of commercial explosive destruction technologies for RCWM when needed.

One focus of the committee was investigating the technologies 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 Department 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 meeting, held at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C., featured a visit to the nearby Spring Valley chemical weapon remediation 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. Environmental 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

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

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 comments 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.

This Page is Blank

Contents

SUMMARY

1    INTRODUCTION

The Nature of the Recovered CWM Problem

Non-Stockpile Chemical Warfare Material in the United States

Study Context

Statement of Task

Addressing the Statement of Task

2    CURRENT POLICY, FUNDING, ORGANIZATION, AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Introduction

Policy Development

Historical and Organizational Overview (First World War-2007)

Chronology and Context of Directives and Instructions

Funding

Chemical Agent and Munitions Destruction, Defense (CAMD,D)

Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP)

Operations and Management (O&M)

Organization

Department of Defense

Office of the Secretary of the Army

Office of the Secretary of the Navy

Office of the Secretary of the Air Force

Processes

Summary

3    TREATY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

Treaty and Regulatory Requirements That Determine Scope and Cost of Cleanup

Treaty Obligations

CERCLA

RCRA Corrective Action

Historic Examples of Cleanup of Buried CWM

Requirements

The Need for Flexibility in CWM Remediation

Know Before You Go

Clean Islands in the Middle of Contaminated Operational Ranges

Corrective Action Management Units

The Problem Posed by RCRA Storage Requirements

Regulatory Approval and Permitting of the EDS and EDTs

Recycling of Treated Munition Bodies, Fragments, and Other Metals

Extending the Pine Bluff Model

The Importance of Public Involvement

4    TECHNOLOGIES FOR CLEANUP OF CWM SITES

Technology Work Flow

Geophysical Detection

Personal Protective Equipment

Air Monitoring During Excavation, Interim Storage, and Destruction

Monitoring Equipment

Types of Monitoring

Excavation Equipment and Techniques

Conventional Excavation Equipment

Robotic Excavation Equipment

Packaging, Transportation, Storage (On-Site and Intrastate)

CWM Packaging and Transportation

CWM Storage

Single Chemical Agent Identification Set Access and Neutralization System

Spectroscopic and X-Ray Assessment

Digital Radiography and Computed Tomography

Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy

Raman Spectroscopy

Mobile Munitions Assessment System

Destruction Technologies

Explosive Destruction System

Transportable Detonation Chamber

Dynasafe Static Detonation Chamber

Detonation of Ammunition in a Vacuum Integrated Chamber

Secondary Waste Storage and Disposal

5    REDSTONE ARSENAL: A CASE STUDY

Introduction

The Challenges at Redstone Arsenal

Chemical Warfare Materiel Inventory

Processing of Unusual Items at Redstone Arsenal

Technical and Operational Issues

Match of Technology Needs with NSCMP Capabilities

Assessment of Intact Munitions

Destruction of RCWM-Containing Energetics

Processing of Nonenergetic RCWM

Regulatory Issues

CERCLA Actions at Redstone Arsenal

RCRA Action at Redstone Arsenal

Cleanup Decision

Maximizing Regulatory Flexibility

Corrective Action Management Units, Temporary Units, and Area of Contamination Concept

Community Concerns

6    THE PATH FORWARD: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TARGETED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Technologies With No Targeted R&D Recommendations

Technologies With Targeted R&D Needs

Robotic Excavation Equipment

CWM Packaging and Transportation

Assessment of Recovered Munitions

Destruction of Contaminated RCWM

Destruction of RCWM That Contains Energetics

Processing of Nonenergetic RCWM

7    THE PATH FORWARD: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, FUNDING, AND ORGANIZATION

Introduction

Chronology, Through the Present

RCWM Program Implementation Plan of 2007

The Army’s RCWM Implementation Plan of 2010

Army Role and Responsibilities

Funding

Background

RCWM Program Funding Requirements

Committee Findings and Recommendations on the Organization of RCWM Activities

Organizational Alternatives

Recommended Path Forward

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

A    Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

B    Committee Meetings and Data-Gathering Activities

C    Final Implementation Plan for the Recovery and Destruction of Buried Chemical Warfare Materiel, March 1, 2010

D    Review of Regulatory Programs

E    Management Practices for U.S. Army Planned RCWM Recovery and Emergency Response