Engineering and Development Support of General Decon Technology for the DARCOM Installation Restoration Program. Task 9. Lagoon Sediment Analysis

The purpose of this task is to analytically determine the trinitrotoluene, dinitrotoleune and cyclotrimethylene trinitramine content of lagoon sediment from four Installations. To assess any safety problems in the treatment of explosive contaminated sediment, lagoon sediment samples were collected from four Army installations. Atlantic Research Corporation analyzed the sediments for percent moisture, TNT, RDX, 2,4-DNT and 2,6-DNT. The sediment samples were then sent to the Large Caliber Weapon Systems Laboratory for sensitivity analysis. USATHAMA will (U.S. Army Hazardous and Toxic Materials Agency) will then correlate the sediment sensitivity vs. explosive levels in the sediment. Five to six samples of wet contaminated lagoon sediment were received from four installations: Alabama Army Ammunition Plant (AAAP), Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant (LAAP), Umatilla Army Depot (UAD), and Savannah Army Depot (SAD) at various times during the month of July. As instructed by USATHAMA, each individual sample was well mixed and a 4 - 6 gram sample was taken to determine the precent moisture. The percent moisture samples were put in an oven at 110C for 24 hours. The samples were then cooled in a desiccator and reweighed to a constant weight. A twenty gram sample was also taken from each sediment sample to determine explosive content. These samples were air dried overnight on the dull side of a sheet of aluminum foil.