Risk associated with the demilitarization of the United States chemical weapons stockpile

In accordance with Public Law 99-145 (Title 14, Part B, Section 1412) a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was prepared to assess the environmental impact of destruction of the continental U.S. (CONUS) stockpile of unitary lethal chemical agent and munitions. The CONUS supply of chemical munitions and agents accounted for 94.4% by weight of the entire U.S. stockpile. The CONUS stockpile is currently stored at eight sites. The hazards associated with the disposal process included those associated with (1) plant operation, (2) transportation, (3) handling, and (4) external events (pervasive among the other 3 hazard areas). The risks of plant operations were assessed using fault trees and event trees, the transportation risks were assessed using actuarial data based on the Sandia National Laboratory transportation data base. The handling risks were assessed using field data where available as well as the Swain Human Reliability Handbook data.