Analysis of Energetic Material Detection Technologies for Use at Army Energetic Material Production Facilities

Abstract : The U.S. Army has numerous excess ordnance production facilities slated for destruction. These buildings may have considerable quantities of residual energetic materials (EMs) and asbestos, and may also be structurally unsound. The EMs in these facilities include finished military explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics as well as precursors to these materials. The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) is developing alternatives for safe, economic, and environmentally benign assessment, decontamination, and disposal of excess ordnance production facilities. For this study, CERL selected four EM detection technologies and tested them at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RAAP) in Virginia. Facilities selected as test sites reflected as much variation in EM usage, construction, building materials, and other conditions as possible. All of the instruments evaluated in this study are capable of detecting EMs. They are designed and were demonstrated to be very sensitive to small levels of contamination. Instrument performance was not hindered by either the conditions at RAAP or the building material substrate. Each instrument had superior qualities, as well as features less suited for use in field work like that experienced at RAAP.