In 1996, the United States Congress established the ACWA program to test and demonstrate alternative technologies to baseline incineration for the destruction of chemical weapons.

The production of chemical weapons in the United States began during World War I, after their first large-scale use against Allied troops in Belgium.

Public Law 106-79 stated that funds would not be allocated for a chemical weapons disposal facility at Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) until the Secretary of Defense certified demonstration of six incineration alternatives.

Via Public Law 106-398, the Department of Defense had to consider incineration and any demonstrated ACWA technologies for disposal of the Colorado stockpile.

With community input garnered through the 1997 ACWA Dialogue process, the Department of Defense selected destruction technologies for both sites.

In 2006, the program reached another milestone, the groundbreaking for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP), marking the start of construction in Kentucky.

Also in 2009, Operation Swift Solution Team fulfilled its mission to safely eliminate three deteriorating steel containers that stored a mixture of GB (sarin) nerve agent and its breakdown products at BGAD.

The multi-agency effort eliminated health and safety risks associated with continued storage of the containers as well as other wastes accumulated during the years of their management.

In May, the Department of Defense submitted its Semi-Annual Chemical Demilitarization Program Report to Congress in conjunction with the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2010, laying out the path forward and funding requirements necessary to accelerate the ACWA program in order to complete the destruction of the PCAPP chemical stockpile by 2017 and the BGCAPP stockpile by 2021.

Construction teams turned over the first subsystems to the start-up groups for systemization testing and commissioned to begin to prepare the facilities for chemical weapons destruction operations.

Later that same year, BCAPP partners, along with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity, conducted an X-ray assessment of the mustard agent stockpile.

[3] The Blue Grass team needed to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing EDT to destroy this specific segment of the stockpile.

[7] In 2013, Program Executive Officer Conrad F. Whyne announced his selection of the U.S. Army’s EDS to augment PCAPP at PCD in Colorado.

The decision followed a lengthy review of several EDTs designed for the safe destruction of chemical munitions unsuited for processing by the main plant’s automated equipment.

[8] In June, BGAD and PEO ACWA completed an environmental assessment to meet the requirements of the NEPA, and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 651, to address any potential impacts of the installation and operation of EDT at the depot.

The Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass team received approval from PEO ACWA to begin initial work on an EDT system at BGCAPP.

Also in April 2019, officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, toured BGCAPP as part of a final oversight technical review prior to operations.

[26]  On June 7, BGCAPP successfully destroyed the first mustard agent-filled munition in the Static Detonation Chamber, marking the beginning of SDC operations in Kentucky.

[28] In March, the first concrete foundation was placed for a support building for the Static Detonation Chamber 2000 facility, which will augment main plant processing.

[30] On June 20, PEO ACWA reached a mission milestone with the destruction of half the remaining stockpile, a combined 1,568 U.S. tons in Colorado and Kentucky.

[37] On July 9, BGCAPP destroyed M55 rockets containing VX nerve agent for the first time marking the start of the fourth of five destruction campaigns.

[43] On April 19, 2022, BGCAPP destroyed the last M55 rocket containing VX nerve agent, thus completing the fourth and penultimate destruction campaign.

[44] On July 6, 2022, the fifth and final destruction campaign at BGCAPP began when the first M55 rocket containing GB nerve agent was destroyed in the main plant.

On Jan. 27, 2023, BGCAPP operators began destroying containerized rocket warheads, previously drained of GB nerve agent in the main plant, using the Static Detonation Chamber 2000.

On April 12, 2023, the last VX nerve agent rocket motor from BGCAPP was destroyed in the Static Detonation Chamber at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama.

On June 22, the last munition, an overpacked 155mm projectile, was destroyed in this facility, marking the completion of destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile in Colorado.

On July 7, 2023, the last munition, a GB M55 rocket, was destroyed in this facility, marking the completion of destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile in Kentucky.

Additionally, three SDCs augmented PCAPP's neutralization/biotreatment technology to destroy 4.2-inch mortar rounds and any projectiles that were found unsuitable for processing through the main plant.

PEO ACWA is responsible for the management of BGCAPP at the Blue Grass Army Depot located in east central Kentucky.

Static Detonation Chamber units will continue destruction of containerized, drained rocket warheads, considered agent-contaminated secondary waste during the closure phase.