The United States Department of Defense is required under Public Law 102-484, Section 176, to safely destroy all U.S. non-stockpile chemical warfare material (NSCWM). The priority for destroying NSCM has increased because of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) negotiations and the realization that some Chemical Warfare Material (CWM) are in the public domain while others are located close to public areas.
A number of devices have been created to safely remove NSCWM from the environment. One device known as an Explosive Destruction System (EDS) was designed at the Sandia National Laboratory. This EDS was conceived and owned by the Program Manager for Non Stockpile Chemical Material (PMNSCM), and operated by Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), at the Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA), and elsewhere throughout the United States. A description of an EDS is further provided in Tschritter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,881,383 and incorporated herein by reference. The purpose of an EDS is to explosively access and chemically treat a variety of munitions including large items such as rockets. During the treatment of NSCWMs, fragments are formed and become entangled creating a single large mass that must be removed. The EDS was not designed for easy removal of these large, heavy fragments and, in order for it to be used again, humans must physically remove fragments from the containment vessel and place them into a waste collection area between treatments. Tools that can assist in the safe removal of large, heavy fragments between treatments are needed.