Published: June 15, 2006 10:21 am      

Depot to need 900 workers in next four years

Ronica Shannon
Register News Writer

RICHMOND -- Approximately 900 employees will be needed by 2010 to handle operations of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant and Chris Haynes, project manager with Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, will begin his employee search within Madison County Middle Schools.

"If you do the timing and the math, a lot of our high school graduates that could possibly support this program are currently in the sixth and seventh grades," Haynes said at Wednesday’s meeting of the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board.

All employees who will be working directly with the chemical weapons must be cleared for the Army's personal reliability program.

"To screen these people and to bring them on site and retain them is quite a challenge," Haynes said.

The program requires physical competence, mental alertness, technical proficiency, flexibility, emotional stabilization and a positive attitude just to name a few.

About 40 percent of the workers will fall into this category of screening. This is a federally mandated program, not something that's unique to Kentucky, he said.

Some negative attributes include alcohol or drug dependency, negligent performance, the conviction or involvement of a criminal incident, medical conditions or serious progressive illnesses and being unable to wear proper protective equipment.

The project will call for approximately 48 control room operators, 80 munitions handlers, 100 hazardous materials technicians, 30 instrumentation and controls technicians, 15 electrical technicians, 50 mechanical technicians, 35 lab analysts, 70 lab monitors, 15 technical support specialists, 50 administration/clerical staffers, 28 inventory control specialists, 110 business professionals, 150 technical professionals and 50 line supervisors.

For a complete list of available positions and the skills needed, visit www.bechtelparsonsbgcapp.com.

In other business:

• Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA), gave an update on project funding stating that fiscal year 2006 yielded around $53 million. The president’s fiscal year 2006-2007 proposed federal budget included $174 million for the pilot plant. That amount is comprised of $85.7 million for research, development, tests and evaluations and $89.2 million for construction.

In May, the U.S House of Representatives proposed a $40 million budget cut from the program. The final fiscal year 2006-2007 budget is to be approved by the president in the fall.

The House proposed the cut from the Pentagon's chemical demilitarization military construction budget request for fiscal year 2007. The Senate has yet to bring forth their version of '07 Defense Bill.

Because Kentucky and Colorado are the only chemical demilitarization sites in line for construction funding, the cut impacts only those two locations.

The Defense Acquisition Board Review is to establish a new funding profile for the ACWA program beginning in 2008 and continuing through 2013, Pehlivanian said.

• The intermediate pilot plant design review was completed the week of June 5, according to Jim Fritsche, site project manager for the pilot plant, who gave an update on the pilot plant project.

The previous plant design called for 99,000 square feet; however, the redesign has decreased the size to around 69,000 square feet. The current cost for the plant is estimated at approximately $2 billion.

Fundamental construction for the site already has began. All trees and stumps have been removed, the earthwork is under way, all new utilities and existing utilities have been moved to accommodate the new buildings.

• The Design Working Group still is discussing the matter of shipping chemical agent hydrolysate (immediate chemical wastes) out of state to a permitted treatment and disposal facility. Another open issue regards the shipping of secondary chemical waste to out-of-state facilities that are permitted to handle hazardous wastes.

Last July 21, an ACWA program study team recommended continuing the super-critical water oxidation (SCWO) process, which is a high-pressure cooking procedure that breaks down secondary chemical wastes.

ACWA recently entered into a contract to do a Mitretek study. Mitretek is a third-party scientific research and engineering company that has interviewed local citizens and community leaders to get their opinions regarding off-site shipment. Mitretek is in the process of compiling the information into a report that is expected to be completed by July.

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The CDCAB meets quarterly with the next meetings being Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Tuesday, Dec. 12.

For more information about the chemical demilitarization process, contact the Blue Grass Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office at 626-8944 or send questions to bgoutreach@bah.com.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.