ACWA Update...
(Excerpted from the May 2000 issue of CWWG's newsletter "Common
Sense")
Three non-incineration technologies will soon be demonstrated, under the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program, to analyze their capability to safely destroy chemical weapons. The ACWA program was mandated by Congress in 1996 to identify and demonstrate at least two non-incineration technologies for disposal of "assembled" chemical weapons such as rockets, bombs, projectiles, etc. The three non-incineration technologies to begin demonstrations in June are:
1. AEA Technology's "Silver II" electrochemical oxidation process;
2. Eco Logic's gas phase chemical reduction with Foster Wheeler's supercritical water oxidation; and
3. Teledyne Commodore's "Solvated Electron Technology" followed by chemical oxidation.
The ACWA program is different from most
other military programs in that the criteria for viable treatment
technologies was developed cooperatively by citizens, state and
federal regulatory agencies, and the Department of Defense. A
total of six non-incineration technologies met the strict criteria,
making them eligible for moving to the demonstration phase.
Due to an alleged funding shortage, however, only three of the
six began demonstrations in 1998. Two of them -- General Atomics'
supercritical water oxidation and Parsons/Honeywell hydrolysis
and biological treatment -- were recommended by ACWA to be considered
for chemical weapons disposal.
Under Congressional pressure, the Pentagon in July 1999 identified
enough funding to demonstrate the remaining three technologies
listed above. Demonstration testing is expected to continue through
September 2000, with a final report to Congress in early 2001.
Based on demonstration results, any or all of these technologies
may be recommended by ACWA for chemical weapons disposal.
What makes these advanced technologies safer than incineration
is their ability to capture all by-products and only release them
after they have been identified and proven safe. In the incineration
process the by-products, including extremely toxic chemicals and
heavy metals, are emitted unchecked into the environment through
the smokestack.
ACWA
& the NEPA Process--
The movement toward non-incineration chemical
weapons disposal advanced on April 14, 2000 when the Assembled
Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program announced its intention
to analyze where to locate non-incineration chemical weapons disposal
pilot plants.
This type of analysis, required by the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), is made in the form of an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), a document which details the impacts a federal
action -- in this case, operation of a non-incineration chemical
weapons disposal test facility -- may have on public health and
safety and the environment.
Any technology considered for chemical weapons disposal -- even
incineration -- is subject to analysis under NEPA. However, the
scope of this EIS is limited to the two disposal technologies
that have already passed ACWA's demonstration phase.
Following NEPA guidance for public input regarding the content
of the EIS, ACWA has conducted scoping meetings in Colorado, Arkansas,
Alabama and Kentucky, possible sites for the pilot plants.
For more information on the ACWA EIS or the NEPA process, please
contact the Chemical Weapons Working Group or visit the ACWA website
at www.pmacwa.org.
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