Our TCS was specifically designed and developed to thermally neutralize explosives residue in and around the equipment and its surfaces at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (AAP) .
Our client needed a firm to perform the thermal verification and disposal of explosively contaminated equipment with trace residues at Lake City AAP to certify them free of explosive residue and safe for recycle.
We were contracted to perform the decontamination and certification as “safe” for all explosively contaminated equipment on this project. Our first step was to prepare and submit an Explosives Safety Submission (ESS). Upon approval of the ESS from the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board (DDESB) and after obtaining the New Source Permit from Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR), we performed the thermal verification and disposal of explosively contaminated equipment.
Our staff conducted detailed inspections for residual explosives and other chemical, toxic or physical hazards on all the contaminated equipment to be processed through our Thermal Convection System (TCS) which was the selected and preferred method of performing this work. We completed a thorough visual inspection of all equipment items to assure that no items containing explosive hazards beyond residual contamination and/or any non-explosive hazards were introduced to the TCS verification process.
All equipment to be processed through the TCS was disassembled to a point that was readily acceptable for transportation and sizing to the TCS car-bottom. We performed the equipment item tear down to a level that made explosives contaminated areas accessible for visual or bore-scope observation to verify its “limited” residual explosives contamination. This inspection is necessary to assure that no hidden surfaces or voids containing bulk explosives were presented or loaded into the TCS.
We designed and developed the TCS to thermally neutralize explosives residue in and around the equipment and its surfaces. When used in conjunction with our TCS Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) confirmation checks and SOPs, the TCS thermally removed the residual explosives contamination and rendered the equipment as Material Documented as Safe (MDAS) so that the equipment items could be disposed of as scrap metal.
For use as a thermal verification chamber, we configured the TCS with a car-bottom chamber that served as the thermal verification chamber for flashing process equipment and residual explosives contaminated equipment items. This car-bottom chamber is constructed of 6-inch thick insulated panels capable of withstanding the required target temperatures for the necessary result. We use a clean regulated Liquid Propane (LP) heat source in the car-bottom to achieve the contract required target temperature of 650°F for a 4-hour duration. To remove any potential combustion products, the exhaust from the car-bottom chamber is then directed to a secondary combustion. The final step through the TCS process is to cool and direct the exhaust through a combination of particulate and High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters.
The end result is that we have certified MDAS a total of 560 tons of contaminated equipment using the TCS allowing unrestricted release as recyclable scrap metal.
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