Defense Enviornment Alert
October 8, 2002

DOD AWARDS PUEBLO NEUTRALIZATION CONTRACT TO BECHTEL

The Defense Department has awarded a task order contract to Bechtel National, Inc. of San Francisco to design, build and operate a chemical weapons neutralization pilot plant in Pueblo, CO. After neutralization, the weapons will undergo biodegradation at the plant. The award follows a July 16 decision by DOD acquisition chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge to neutralize the stockpiled chemical weapons in Pueblo, rather than incinerate them as the Army typically does (Defense Environment Alert, July 30, p4).

DOD's Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program awarded the contract Sept. 27, according to a news release from the program. The first task order of the contract will be to develop a design-build plan for the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant, the release says. The first task order is a $4 million award, according to an ACWA spokeswoman. Future task orders under the contract will include design completion, construction, systemization, pilot testing, operation and closure of the plant.

The contract award comes after a lengthy review by DOD over whether incineration or an alternative should be employed to destroy the 2,611 tons of mustard agent-filled munitions at Pueblo. Aldridge first endorsed the neutralization/biotreatment method last spring, when he listed the technology as the preferred destruction method in an environmental impact analysis, marking the first time DOD backed use of a non-incineration method to destroy assembled chemical weapons (Defense Environment Alert, April 9, p9). He later formalized that decision in the July 16 acquisition decision memorandum.

Colorado Citizens' Advisory Commission Chairman John Klomp hailed the award as a landmark decision. "It ensures that the ... neutralization process to destroy mustard agent at the Pueblo Chemical Depot will begin to move forward, making Pueblo a safer community, as well as helping make America safe from the potential threat of terrorist activity," he said in the ACWA news release.