Blue Grass Chemical Activity
Nestled securely within the heart of the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky, The Blue Grass Chemical Activity is responsible for the storage, monitoring and eventual destruction of all chemical munitions stored there. The three types of chemical agents at Blue Grass Chemical Activity include a blister agent, known as "mustard" which began arriving in the 1940's and two nerve agents, GB and VX which began arriving in the 1960's.  The "mustard" blister agent is designed to incapacitate, while GB and VX nerve agents are deadly. All chemical munitions are stored in concrete bunkers covered with several feet of earth.  These "igloos" are in a high security area behind multiple wire razor fences with an around-the-clock armed security force authorized to use deadly force.  The three liquid chemical agents are stored in differing types of munitions.  The agents are primarily contained in 155 mm and eight-inch projectiles as well as M55 115 mm rockets.  The rockets contain either GB or VX agent and fully assembled with agent, bursting charges, rocket propellant, rocket motors and igniters.
Chemical Operations
The chemical stockpile is monitored daily.  Each day, emergency response plans are relayed to the Madison County Emergency Management Agency and the state Emergency Operations Center.  The plan factors in the location of the work, the type of munitions and the local weather conditions. Each igloo containing M55 rockets is monitored once a week by sampling the inside atmosphere of the igloo.  This sample must be free of any trace of agent before the doors can be opened.  On a rotating basis, more thorough sampling takes place as an air sample is drawn from a storage tube of individual rockets.  Chemical detection plays an extremely important part in the monitoring of the chemical stockpile and the sophisticated equipment used can detect samples well below the hazardous level.
Emergency Response
Should alarms sound or Activity chemists report a positive reading, an emergency response team is immediately activated.  Workers leave the igloo, which is sealed and an air filtration system designed to remove agent is started.  Most leaks of chemicals are detected at a level that is less than the amount that would come from a short burst of bug spray dispersed evenly inside a 2,000-square-foot home. All Activity employees and equipment are available for responding to a chemical emergency.  Emergency response procedures are tested often and unannounced full-scale tests are conducted at different times to evaluate the Activity's ability to respond.