Biological and Chemical Weapons

A Virtual Tour of a Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility

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*All text copyright the Henry L. Stimson Center. Photos courtesy of the US Army, Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization.

The Johnston Island JACADS facility.

Inside a special containment room, machines punch holes in munitions and drain out the chemical agent. Then agent is drained into storage tanks, and the remaining metal parts, munition explosives, and packing materials are each sent to separate furnaces to be destroyed.

The agent incinerator burns the chemical agent and solutions used for decontamination at the plant. The agent is burned at 2700 degrees Fahrenheit in the first combustion chamber and the remaining gases are sent to a second combustion chamber known as the afterburner. Exhaust gases then pass through a pollution control system.

The deactivation furnace destroys solid materials such as explosives, rockets, mines, and agent-contaminated material. These items are incinerated in a rotary kiln for six minutes. Scrap metals and leftover residue receive additional treatment on a heated conveyor belt. The residue from the conveyor belt is emptied into a residue bin, and the exhaust from the kiln goes through a cyclone chamber where any remaining large solid particles are removed. The gases are incinerated in an afterburner before going through the pollution control system.

The metal parts furnace decontaminates bulk containers and munition shells by burning away residual chemical agent. These items are first incinerated in the primary combustion chamber. The scrap metal then enters an airlock when it is tested for any remaining agent before being released for scrap handling. Gases pass through an afterburner before being processed by a pollution control system.

The waste or dunnage furnace destroys wooden pallets used in shipment and other miscellaneous solid wastes. These wastes are treated in the primary incineration chamber. The resulting scrap metal and residual ashes are discharged into an ash hopper. An afterburner processes gases from the primary chamber before they are sent to a pollution control system, where a quench tower cools the gases to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. These gases are then sent to a baghouse where solid particles are filtered through a dry fabric filter.

All facility operations are handled from a contained control booth.

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