The U.S. Army's Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) is the world leader in programs to store, treat, and dispose of chemical weapons safely and effectively. The activity developed and used technologies to safely store and eliminate chemical weapons at seven stockpile sites while protecting the public, its workers and the environment. CMA also has the storage mission at the Nation's final two stockpile sites. CMA was created to incorporate the former Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization and portions of the U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command into one activity. This streamlines operations and allows for greater integration of these programs. More information on the organization is available at About CMA.

Autoclave operations come to an end

On March 30, URS workers completed processing of the final load of agent-contaminated secondary waste through the autoclave system, which is located in Deseret Chemical Depot’s (DCD) storage area. The autoclave started operations in August 2009 and treated more than 1.1 million pounds of waste from Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF) operations, as well as legacy waste from DCD and the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System.

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DPE Entries become history

On April 3, Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF) workers performed, what is expected to be, the last Demilitarization Protective Ensemble (DPE) entry at the TOCDF

Since the start of TOCDF operations on Aug. 22, 1996, there have been 811 employees who have made DPE entries, all of which, contributed to the whopping total of 26,769 TOCDF DPE entries.

“The amazing thing about this accomplishment is that we did them [DPE entries] all safely, said TOCDF Entry Manager Rob Ralston. All 811 of our entrants completed their entries without any serious injury or exposure to a chemical agent.”

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CAMDS: Gone, but not forgotten

The Nation’s chemical stockpile elimination program’s research and development facility—Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System (CAMDS)—has completed its closure work. CAMDS, which is located on Deseret Chemical Depot, submitted the final closure package to the Utah Department of Solid and Hazardous Waste. It is expected that the state will grant the approval by the end of February 2013.

CAMDS is where the U.S. Army’s first formal chemical weapons destruction efforts began. For more than 25 years, CAMDS developed and tested chemical weapons destruction methods and procedures, destroying more than 363,000 pounds of chemical agents and more than 40,000 munitions during that time.

Although, CAMDS has closed, its legacy will live on, as the two remaining U.S. chemical weapons stockpile sites at Pueblo, Colo. and Blue Grass, Ky. will continue using the proven technologies and processed developed at CAMDS.

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