Bechtel tries for common ground

Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass is trying to find a common ground with the state Department for Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the entities discuss Bechtel's Research Development and Demonstration permit application.

The main issue is determining how much of the chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot can be destroyed with the demonstration permit before Bechtel applies for a full operating permit, Bechtel environmental manager Tom Kurkjy told the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board on Monday.

"We proposed that all the GB (a nerve agent) munitions could be disposed during the RD and D period," Kurkjy told the board during a meeting at Eastern Kentucky University.

The GB munitions account for 70 percent of the total stockpile at the depot, Kurkjy said. The depot would not process any VX (also a nerve agent) under the demonstration permit because it will have been tested at a different facility by the time the demonstration permit runs out.

The munitions - M55 rockets, M56 warheads and M426 projectiles - would be destroyed on a ramp-up schedule. During the first and second week of the program, four rockets or warheads and six projectiles would be destroyed each hour, and there would be a peak of 40 rockets or warheads and 15 projectiles from the 25th to the 30th week under the demonstration permit.

The Department for Environmental Protection is concerned about the depot processing more than 50 percent of its GB stockpile under the demonstration permit, fearing the public will perceive the amount as excessive without a full operating permit, said April Webb, who works for department's Hazardous Waste division.

The EPA is concerned about the amount of weapons to be processed each hour. The agency has set a maximum of 880 pounds that can be processed with a demonstration permit, but that amount would be exceeded by almost half during the final six weeks of the development and demonstration phase.

"Any amount over those numbers requires justification," Kurkjy said.

Board members were concerned that the arbitrary limits might hinder Bechtel's ability to deal with unforeseen design issues. Some problems may not occur until the pilot plant operates at a higher capacity, they said.

Craig Williams, co-chair of the board and executive director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, said the demilitarization program may not meet all its objectives under the demonstration permit by the time it reaches its maximum percentage or pounds.

"That could potentially inhibit the long-term execution of this process," Williams said.

"There are problems that are going to occur that will not show up in systemization," said Chris Midgett, project manager for Bechtel.

Webb said the Department for Environmental Protection would like to issue the demonstration permit by the beginning of next year, which would give the department time to consider what to do about the arbitrary numbers.

The board also began to discuss what to do with secondary byproducts of the demilitarization program. In all, the program is expected to generate more than 20 million pounds of waste materials, including packing materials, protective suits and brine salts, Jim Richmond, the Blue Grass Lead for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives.

Although the board will eventually consider the best way to dispose of most of the by-products, wood pallets used to carry munitions were the only ones discussed Monday.

All hazardous waste has to go to a regulated landfill for final disposal.

Of the 20 million pounds, about a million are attributed to the pallets, Midgett said. Processing the pallets is estimated to take about two weeks at $300,000 a day, he said.

Midgett suggested that only contaminated pallets should be processed at the depot, and the rest of the pallets should be shipped to an off-site disposal facility.

"If it has not come into contact with agent, it should not be contaminated," Midgett said.

Co-chair of the board and Madison Judge-Executive Kent Clark agreed with Midgett because processing the pallets on-site would not create a significant number of jobs in the community.

"I don't see any real benefit in it at all for us," Clark said.

Ryan Garrett can be reached at rgarrett@richmondregister.com or at (859) 623-1669 Ext. 234