Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) is a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Joint Munitions Command The Joint Munitions Command (JMC) is the latest in a series of commands since World War II that have managed the ammunition plants of the United States. Since 1973, those commands have been headquartered on Rock Island Arsenal. Brigadier Genera ...

storage facility for conventional munitions and

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s. The facility is located in east central

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, southeast of the cities of Lexington and Richmond,

. The site, composed mainly of open fields and wooded areas, is used for munitions storage, repair of general supplies, and the disposal of munitions. The installation is used for the storage of conventional explosive munitions as well as assembled chemical weapons. The depot primarily is involved in industrial and related activities associated with the storage and maintenance of conventional and chemical munitions. The tenant organization, Blue Grass Chemical Activity, is responsible for the chemical weapons stored at BGAD. BGCA is part of the Army's Chemical Materials Activity, headquartered in

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. The demilitarization of the chemical weapons is the responsibility of a third organization, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA). BGAD provides munitions, chemical defense equipment, and ammunition support to the joint warfighter. It is the Department of Defense's primary center for surveillance, receipt, storage, issue, testing and minor repair for the Chemical Defense Equipment Program. BGAD maintains and supports CDE stocks for deploying units and homeland defense forces, and is a training site for reserve component and other deploying units.

Capabilities

Capabilities include: industrial services support; ammunition maintenance, renovation, disassembly and demilitarization; thermal arc coating for Air Force bombs; water washout facility with flaker belt; molten salt research and development; ultrasonic testing for mortar ammunition; chemical material surveillance; quality assurance and joint logistics support; and ammunition life cycle management. The depot also serves as a training ground for service members.

History

BGAD was established in 1941 and began operations in 1942 as an ammunition and general supply storage depot, Blue Grass Ordnance Depot. In 1964, it merged with the Lexington Signal Depot in Avon, Kentucky, to become the Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot. The Lexington facility was selected for closure under BRAC (Base Realignment And Closure); after it closed in September 1999, the remaining facility received its current designation.

Facilities

BGAD is housed on with 1,153 buildings, 902 igloos and storage capacity of .

Impact of Base Realignment and Closure

BGAD will be gaining the maintenance workload from Red River Munitions Center, which is closing under

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end ...

2005.

Environmental

BGAD is currently working with state and federal regulators on environmental remediation. The installation is in compliance with all state and federal laws and regulations.

Chemical weapons destruction

BGAD stores a small stockpile of chemical agents, comprising of nerve agents GB (sarin) and VX, and mustard gas, or about two percent of the United States chemical weapons stockpile. Beginning in June 2019, destruction of the Blue Grass chemical weapons stockpile, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Treaty, was begun, starting with mustard gas. Operations are planned to conclude in 2023. Nerve agents were planned to be treated using a technology known as neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation. This is a different method than the incineration that is used at the larger stockpiles.

Chemical leaks

* December 11 – December 13, 2021: Two minor leaks of mustard gas after a short lived ef1 tornado tore through the area damaging one of the systems. * July 25 – August 6, 2008: Two leaks of

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gas. * August 27, 2007: Sarin gas leak. * 12 July 2008: Sarin gas leak. * August 6, 2012: Sarin gas leak. * October 2013: Sarin gas leak. * August 2017: Mustard gas leak

References

External links

Joint Munitions Command website
* {{Coord, 37.698, -84.222, type:landmark_region:US-KY_dim:10000, display=title Chemical weapons destruction facilities Buildings and structures in Madison County, Kentucky United States chemical weapons depots United States Army arsenals Military installations in Kentucky United States Army arsenals during World War II United States Army logistics installations Historic American Engineering Record in Kentucky 1941 establishments in Kentucky