Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS), the first fully integrated chemical agent disposal facility, is located on Johnston Island some 800 miles southwest of Hawaii. JACADS completed ten years of operations in November 2000, which resulted in the disposal of more than 2000 tons of nerve and mustard agents. In 1998, the Army began planning for closure and dismantling of the facility. In 1999, the NRC was asked to review the Army's planning. This book presents an assessment of planned and ongoing closure activities on Johnston Island in some detail. It also provides an analysis of the likely implications for closure of disposal facilities at eight continental U.S. storage sites.

This book responds to a request by the director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) for the National Research Council to examine and evaluate the ongoing planning for closure of the four currently operational baseline incineration chemical agent disposal facilities and the closure of a related testing facility. The book evaluates the closure planning process as well as some aspects of closure operations that are taking place while the facilities are still disposing of agent. These facilities are located in Anniston, Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Tooele, Utah; and Umatilla, Oregon. They are designated by the acronyms ANCDF, PBCDF, TOCDF, and UMCDF, respectively. Although the facilities all use the same technology and are in many ways identical, each has a particular set of challenges.

The U.S. Army's Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) currently oversees contracts for the operation of chemical agent stockpile incineration facilities at four disposal sites. Because the period of time required to dispose of these chemical agents has grown beyond that originally planned, the Army is becoming concerned about the possibility of growing operational problems as the processing equipment ages. To help address these concerns, the CMA requested the NRC to assess whether current policies and practices will be able to adequately anticipate and address facility obsolescence issues. This report presents a review of potential infrastructure and equipment weaknesses given that the facilities are being operated well beyond their original design lifetime; an assessment of the Army's current and evolving obsolescence management programs; and offers recommendations about how the programs may be improved and strengthened to permit safe and expeditious completion of agent stockpile destruction and facility closure.