Staff at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant launched destruction efforts on some of the smaller mustard agent-filled projectiles on Saturday.
The first of approximately 380,000 total 105-millimeter projectiles were neutralized, according to Sandra Romero, communications manager for the Bechtel Pueblo Team.
The neutralization of mustard agent molecules occurs through a process using hot water and a caustic solution that makes hydrolysate — a common industrial chemical that is readily biodegradable. Hydrolysate is then broken down into salts, water and organics using living microbes.
Since the destruction of 300,000 larger 155-millimeter munitions wrapped up in September, the 1,615 technicians on the Bechtel Pueblo Team — consisting of employees with the Bechtel, Amentum, Battelle and General Physics companies — have retrofitted processing equipment, making specialized components needed to destroy the smaller 105mm projectiles.