Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility

The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (also called Tooele Chemical Demilitarization Facility) or TOCDF, is a U.S. Army facility located at Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele County, Utah and is used for dismantling chemical weapons. It was constructed in the early 1990s and began destruction of chemical agent-filled munitions on August 22, 1996.

GB campaign

Each of the weapons listed contained the chemical agent GB (also known as Sarin)

* 28,945 - 115 mm self-propelled rockets (M55) containing 154.86 short tons
* 1,056 - M56 warheads, which are M55 rockets without the rocket motor containing 5.65 tons
* 119,400 - 105 mm cartridges (M360) containing 97.31 tons
* 679,303 - 105 mm projectiles (M360) containing 553.63 tons
* 67,685 - 155 mm projectiles (M121/A1) containing 219.98 tons
* 21,456 - 155 mm projectiles (M122) containing 69.73 tons
* 888 - Weteye bombs containing 154.07 tons
* 4,463 - 750-pound bombs (MC-1) containing 490.93 tons
* 5,709 - Ton Containers containing 4,299.10 tons

All GB, totaling 6,045.26 tons was disposed of by March 2002.

VX campaign

After completion of the GB campaigns, the plant was converted to dispose of similar weapons containing VX agent:
* 3,966 - M55 Rocket containing 19.83 tons
* 3,560 - M56 Rocket Warhead containing 17.80 tons
* 53,216 - M121/A1 155 mm Projectile containing 159.65 tons
* 22,690 - M23 Land Mine containing 119.12 tons
* 862 - TMU-28 Spray Tank containing 584.44 tons
* 640 - Ton Container containing 455.48 tonsTotaling 1,356.32 tons of disposed VX.

The VX campaign completed processing chemical munitions on 3 June 2005, and completed processing containers contaminated with VX or residual products in October 2005.

Mustard Agent campaign

As of May 11, 2008 [Monthly Update, Deseret Chemical Depot, http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003678197 (PDF), May 11, 2008]
*2,271 mustard agent-filled ton containers
*39,858 mustard agent-filled 155mm projectiles
*36.47% of total mustard agent stockpile

After August 2006, the machinery was converted to handle munitions and ton containers which hold mustard gas (also known as mustard agent, H, HD, or HT). Operations to destroy the base's mustard gas stockpile were expected to take several years.

Weapons disposal process

The destruction process involves receiving the items in protective containers from a covered, protected storage area, and placing the items onto trays for insertion into the automated processing area.

Inside the first automated area, called the Exposion Containment Room, explosive components are removed from the items and destroyed in a rotating kiln called the Deactivation Furnace System.

The items then move to another automated area called the Munition Processing Bay, where the liquid agent is sucked out and sent to holding tanks.

The mostly-empty items are then moved through a high-temperature (maximum 2,000 °F or 1,100 °C) oven called the Metal Parts Furnace, which destroys the residual agent so that the items can be safely disposed of as scrap metal.

The liquid agent is destroyed in one of two high-temperature (maximum 2,700 °F or 1,500 °C) ovens called Liquid Incinerators. The products of combustion from the ovens and kilns pass through extensive Pollution Abatement Systems, which catch the airborne products as salts, and hold them in a liquid slurry called brine, which is periodically shipped to out-of-state underground disposal facilities.

References

* [http://www.cma.army.mil/state.aspx?state=Utah Chemical Materials Agency: Utah]

ee also

* The United States and weapons of mass destruction

External links

* [http://www.cma.army.mil/state.aspx?state=Utah Official site]