Published: October 26, 2009 08:29 am      

Destruction plant taking shape

Public to get monthly updates from Depot

The complex that will destroy the 523 tons of chemical agents stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot began taking shape in mid-September as workers began erecting the steel framework for two of its 11 buildings.

Soon after the Defense Department’s explosives safety board approved design of the plant’s blast containment building earlier in the summer, contractor Bechtel Parsons Bluegrass began putting structural steel in place for it, as well as the controls and support building, according to Jeff Brubaker, site manager for the Army’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative (ACWA) program.

The containment building must be blast proof, because that is where explosives and propellants will be separated from the chemical warheads.

Work also is under way on the tanks that will store water for the complex’s firefighting service, he said.

Members of the Madison Fiscal Court were taken on tour of the site on Thursday, Brubaker said.

Now that construction has begun to accelerate, the site manager said the media and local officials will be given monthly briefings in addition to the quarterly updates given to the Chemical Destruction Chemical Advisory Board.

Prior to this month, roads, security fencing and lighting, the access control building and electrical transmission line and substation were completed, Brubaker said.

Only 4 percent of the engineering design work for the plant remains to be done, he said. When most of that is complete, by mid-2010, construction will proceed at an even faster pace.

Without unforeseen delays, work is on track for destruction of chemical agents to begin in 2018.

To date, 483 are working on the project locally, with 139 employed elsewhere.

Payroll of non-manual labor workers has reached $32 million annually, generating about $2 million in state and local payroll taxes, according to information provided by ACWA.

The payroll for craft workers, usually on the job only when their skills are required, has been running about $100,000 per week, according to agency.

As of Sept. 30, the workers had surpassed 4.4 million job hours without a lost-time accident, Brubaker said.

The construction safety record is “evidence of a safety culture in which this entire community can take pride,” he said. “As you can see, safety is paramount here.”

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.