PCAPP Concludes Baseline Reconfiguration Campaign
The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) successfully completed its campaign to remove all external explosives from 125,480 projectiles on June 23, 2020. This removal occurred ahead of schedule and allows for simplified demilitarization of these items.
The PCAPP team started baseline reconfiguration in October 2016. The first campaign involved removal of external explosives on 28,374 105mm projectiles while the second campaign removed explosives from 97,106 4.2-inch mortar rounds. Originally scheduled to be complete in September 2020, the team accelerated its work by implementing several creative ideas from the field workers to improve process efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of safety. Project Manager Kim Jackson said, “How the team accomplished this mission is what resonates – adherence to our safety standards never wavered.”
Team members will move on to support the project’s third munition destruction campaign currently being performed in parallel, involving the destruction of nearly 300,000 155mm projectiles. The 155mm campaign is forecasted to finish this fall; the main plant will then enter a brief outage to decontaminate the chemical agent and start mechanical conversion for the upcoming 105mm projectile destruction campaign.
PCAPP is also systemizing three new static detonation chambers constructed on site to support the upcoming 4.2-inch mortar destruction campaign scheduled to start at the end of the calendar year. The team remains focused on completing its mission to destroy more than 780,000 chemical weapons by 2023 – ahead of contract and program completion date requirements.
